Red Strings
by Alaiana Potter
Summary: Everyone has a red string tied to their finger, connecting them to their soulmate. Everyone has the chance to find them. Saitama can see them, he just doesn't think his leads anywhere.
1. Chapter 1

**Initially posted on AO3 under the same user name, story content baised off of a post on tumblr (visit my AO3 to see the link for that on this story)**

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He had always been able to see it, just before it was only in flashes. Spots of red that flashed in the corner of his eye. As a child he had wondered why people were tying red strings to themselves, but after asking his parents once he realized that they could not see what he did so he kept quiet about it, ignored the little red strings that he could occasionally see.

He remembered when he was a kid he had gotten a glimpse of his own parents strings. He had noticed that they did not connect, they trailed off in opposite directions. In a way, he felt that made sense, like his mum and dad were not truly happy together, that they could have been happier, had they only not been together. But Saitama was selfish and he never told his parents these facts, never told them that he could see the flashes of fate, not that he knew it was fate at the time.

In his adult life he had started to see them binding the people around him, the happy couples and the people that seemed to have the best time while at work would have those flashes of red in the corner of his eye. He had tried so very hard to catch a glimpse of red on his own hand, but had never seen it. For some reason his seeming lack of a point to connect him to others saddened him. He became disillusioned with the world, unable to find himself caring when he was fired. Unable to bring himself to care even when faced with a giant crab-man with sharpied on nipples.

He felt as if he could start to care when he saw that big-chinned brat in the park, the same kid that the crab-man had been looking for. He felt a tugging at his heartstrings as he tried to convince the kid that he needed to get somewhere safe. Felt a rush of exhilaration when he was fighting the crab-man. But just as it showed up out of the blue did the feelings, the emotions leave him. He felt emptier than ever, but he had made a resolution to himself, He would train, he would give his all into becoming a hero, in the hopes that he could feel those lost flashes of emotion.

He threw his all into his training, forgetting the red flashes that he could still see. Ignoring the happy people connected by strings only he seemed able to see on occasion. With time he didn't notice any at all, focused as he was on his training. He was not destined to see them again, not until that day anyway.

Saitama awoke as he did every morning, slowly and reluctant to get from his marginally-warmer-than-the-room futon, reaching a hand up to run a hand through his hair, forgetting for a second that it had all fallen out yesterday. He groaned as he rolled over, pushing the heels of his hands at his eyes slightly, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Rolling from his bed he stood, still bleary eyed with sleep, and went about his morning routine, bathroom, wash hands, brush teeth, splash water on face to wake-up. He paused at the last step though, staring at his hands in shock. There tied neatly to his left pinky finger was a bright red string, taunting him.

In anger he attempted to grasp the string, t tear it from his hand, to make it stop taunting him, but his hand passed through. No matter where he tried to grip it, it would not let him hold it. He attempted to cut it next, only to yield the same results. It would not break nor budge, it could not be cut, and he had crushed the scissors in his frustration. So Saitama closed his eyes, in the hopes that the string would go away if he looked away, even though he knew deep down that would not work, after all he had only seen glimpsed from the corner of his eye before. He could tell that just as his strength had increased, that this strange, somewhat fleeting power had increased too, though he did not have the faintest idea of what to do with the knowledge, or even really what the string was.

A new light of determination kindled a spark in his soul. Forgetting the rest of his morning routine Saitama exited the bathroom and grabbed his laptop, pulling up the internet and searching for an answer to the mystery of the red string that would not leave him be.

He found it after three hours of searching. The Red String of Fate, a mythical string that would connect a person to their soul mate. The tangles would note significant people or places. Saitama let out a soft hum and leaned back, looking down at his left hand as an idea formed in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Saitama sat on a bench in a park after his daily workout routine, looking down at his hand, the fingers of his right hand twitching, wanting to toy with the red string he could see tied to his left pinkie finger. All day he had been distracted by the strings crisscrossing around his vison, tying people together, tangling with each other. He had started the day wondering if he would find his string crossing with anyone else's, unconsciously following his string as he went about his routine, never seeing his string crossed or tangled with anyone's. He looked up, his eyes following the trail of the string as it left his hand, stretching far off into the distance, half wondering if he shouldn't follow it, if he shouldn't abandon his place here to follow a mythical string to see where it would go, who it would lead him to.

The laugh of a child shook him from his thoughts, bringing his attention back to the park around him where families laughed with each other. Where couples walked together, some connected, others only tangled for a short amount of time. He glanced back to his own string, letting out a deep sigh and standing from the bench, on reflex going to run his fingers through his hair, only to be met with smooth skin.

"Right," he muttered to himself, dropping his hand from his head and taking a deep breath, the lack of hair was still taking some getting used to. "Right," he said again, a determined look crossing his face. "Following won't help, it'll just make me miss that sale today." Mind made Saitama turned away from where his string trailed off in the distance, turning his attention instead towards the sale that was happening closer to where he lived in City Z.

At the six month mark Saitama had gotten used to seeing the red string. By the year mark he had learned to ignore the strings around him, following his led him nowhere and only seemed to drive him mad for lack of anyone connecting to his. He would don his hero suit occasionally, going out to save those who needed it. Occasionally he would catch a glimpse of fleeting connections with people that he had pulled out of the way, or that he had intervened in just the nick of time, saving them, but never staying long beyond making sure that they were safe.

By the time two years had passed he had gotten used to his new routine. Hardly ever was it thrown out of balance, few people even noticed that he was doing hero work, even fewer bothered to thank him. He was used to it though, not really expecting any different and completely dissociated from his emotions. He supposed that maybe if he found a villain strong enough it would distract him from the lack of feeling he had, maybe he could find _something_ that could distract him.

He let out a sigh, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind. His attention once more being caught by the news. He watched with mild interest as the camera shook around, the news caster holding to his hard hat as he reported the monster attack on City A. His interest perked up as the cameras cut off, an error message taking its place on the screen. "That should work then," he muttered to himself, standing up and going to pull his hero suit on, maybe this villain would be tougher than the others that he had encountered.

Saitama arrived at the scene to see the monster reaching for a young girl that was crying for her parents. He reacted without thinking, leaping forwards and pulling the girl towards his chest, holding her and himself in a way that would protect her from the brunt of the impact of them landing several feet away from the monster. "Stay here and stay quiet," Saitama whispered to her, laying the girl gently on the ground where she pretended to be unconscious, or maybe she actually was unconscious, Saitama didn't feel like checking that right now.

The monster wore an interesting mixture of incredulity and curiosity at the sudden appearance of the hero before him. "Who are you?" it asked, rather rudely, looking torn between sneering at Saitama and the girl and looking completely shocked to hell and back.

"Huh," Saitama eloquently said, stepping away from the girl and maneuvering the fight so that she would not get caught up in it if it came to a real fight. "I'm just a hero for fun." At this the monster just across from him looked severely pissed off. Saitama could swear that he saw a vein in its forehead twitching in irritation.

"What the hell kind of backstory is that?" it shouted at him, looking more and more angry as it went on "I am Vaccine Man, I exist because you humans are a plague on this earth. You are all a parasite that is killing the earth so she gave birth to me to eradicate you all and you _dare_ make a mockery of me. You dare say you do this for _fun_?!" it now looked offended, and Saitama had honestly stopped paying attention to what it was saying when it started questioning his backstory. The monster just continued to talk and to grow, and Saitama was already giving up this fight as dull and not worth his time. "You have cemented my decision! I shall wipe humanity from ever existing!" The thing lunged at Saitama, who simply pulled back a fist, complete disinterest in his face, and punched the monster. There was a span of three seconds where nothing happened then a spray of blood blew back from the monster.

Saitama blinked in shock, looking at the monster and then at his fist, wondering what the hell had just happened before realization dawned on him. "Aww come on, Only one punch again!" he fell dramatically to his knees, wishing that for once he could have an actual challenge presented to him. He groaned in frustration before looking over to where the little girl he saved earlier was laying, or rather sitting now. Her eyes were wide and had tears spilling from them. Her left hand lifted from the ground to wipe at her eyes, drawing his attention to the delicate string that was tied there. It looked frayed, as if something or somebody that the girl haw close to had been ripped away, but there looked to be a large tangle forming, or already formed, one end stretched towards him, the other in the distance.

A sharp intake of breath drew the attention of the child to the bald hero before her, and his own attention from a somewhat distressing realization that this child's fate was firmly entangled with his own, meaning that the frayed edges were probably where her parents had been before. Well…shit…what the hell was he supposed to do with this information? He didn't even know what to do with a kid in the first place or why he seemed to be so important to this one.

"Mister…" the girl's voice broke him from his musing (read panicking), "thank you," she said, sniffling some and breaking whatever spell the shock of seeing his string tangled with someone else's had put him under. "For saving me I mean." She gave a watery smile that Saitama could not help but to return.

"Yeah, it's what I do kid," He gave her a thumbs up and looked around, noticing that the rubble from the destructive path the monster had been on was quite dangerous around the area they were in. "Hey kid, you look a bit scraped up there, I'm just gonna take you to a hospital so they can make sure you're ok." He gave her a slight smile, offering his hand out to her, knowing he would beat himself up if he left the girl here in this desolate place. He could figure out what the hell the tangle in their strings meant later, once he made sure the kid was alright.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three weeks since Saitama had defeated the monster calling himself Vaccine Man and saved the little girl. He had brought her to the hospital where he had to fill out what felt like miles of paperwork, he even stuck around to speak with a social worker about the incident. Normally he wouldn't bother but the fact that his string was entangled with the girl's so close to the frayed edges of her old life meant that he felt an obligation to help her out, even if he still wasn't sure why the strings were so tangled together. Perhaps it was because of the sight of his string being more involved with another's that he told the social worker and the authorities that he could be contacted pertaining to the girl's case, who he had learned was named Yuuki. Saitama wasn't even sure if he was properly able to take care of himself as a fully functional adult, after all most others probably did not decide to become a hero after a complete bullshit fight with a giant crab man, but then again most people weren't Saitama.

He could feel the beginnings of a frown on his usually apathetic face as he thought about the intervening weeks between his rescue of Yuuki and now, he had fought and beaten two monsters, one of which had accidentally taken out quite a portion of City B when it had gone down. Now he was just waiting for a call from the social worker assigned to Yuuki's case, having been informed by her that he should expect a call within a few days' time. Wondering what had possessed him to make such a move in his life for quite possibly the seventh time today, Saitama picked up his watering can from the sink and walked with it out onto his balcony, ignoring the news as it played a report in the background on the killer mosquitos that were ravaging the area.

 _I wonder,_ he mused to himself as he began watering his cactus plant. _I wonder what it would be like to have someone else around. From the way things are looking that little girl may end up living with me for a while._ He cut a quick glance towards the open door to his apartment, trying to mentally calculate how or if he could support another human being, he honestly wasn't sure if he could even support a cat at this moment in time. He had no real job to speak of, just a half assed dream and massive amounts of unrecognized talent. _Then again, they might just decide I am unfit to watch a kid, hell they may even decide that I am unfit to watch myself…_ His train of thought came to an abrupt end when he lifted one hand over the other and swatted at a mosquito that had landed there. He lifted a hand and watched with a detached sort of awe as the mosquito flew up, buzzing annoyingly near him. Narrowing his eyes slightly he clapped his hands together, only to see the mosquito once again escaping his grasp. The little flying annoyance then had the audacity to land on the side of his face. He hit it with enough force to send a shockwave out, a basic guarantee to take out any enemy he had encountered so far, but still the damned mosquito managed to fly away from him.

Gently he set his watering can to the side and leapt after the mosquito, determined now to kill the little pest more than he had been before. He leapt into action, grabbing a spray can of bug repellant and taking off in the direction that the little bug had flown off in. He ran, spraying at the bug the entire time, his features thrown into sharper relief then they usually were. Determination in every line of his body, simply to eliminate a tiny blood sucking demon bug. "Get back here you demonic little asshole! This is not over yet!" he shouted, still chasing the mosquito down with the spray can. "Woah," he pulled up short, looking between the spray can in his hand and the massive swarm that he had just noticed was above the area he was in. "What the hell?" he muttered, "I don't think this will cut it." He looked again at the spray can in his hand, trying to figure out if he could take out an entire swarm of the little pests.

"You there," Saitama gave the man the stupidest look he thought he had ever given anyone before, drawn from his thoughts about the bug spray by the strange metal man before him. "Evacuate the area, that swarm is sentient and will attack once it notices you." Saitama continued to stare blankly at the metal man, attempting to make sense of the whole ridiculous situation. He was half aware of the shocked "Seriously?" he questioned the man before him with. A sudden noise from the swarm above them drew the attention of the two towards the sky.

"Woah," Saitama muttered, both at the sound and at the intense scowl that dawned on the man standing before him. "That sounds dangerous, maybe we should get outa…" He was interrupted by a shuddering boom and thousands of the pesky little mosquitos raining down on the two like some form of unholy rain cloud had decided to dump everything it had on them. "Woah," Saitama said again and immediately regretted it because of the mosquitos that decided to fly into his mouth. "Oh god," he choked out, trying to clear the mosquitoes out of his mouth by spitting repeatedly, and loudly, so he missed the hissing mechanical noise that probably would have tipped him off to the impending explosion. As it was the heat that would have been scorching to anyone else merely felt pleasantly warm to him. _Ah, it even left behind a nice breeze too,_ he mused, a small smile playing at his lips as he looked around, noticing the explosion had taken out all the mosquitoes, even the ones that had crawled in his mouth were gone.

"She spoke so I assumed she possessed human level intelligence," the voice of the robo-man broke Saitama from his awe of the comforting breeze brushing past him. "But she was just a pest." A glance over at the robo-man showed that the palm of his remaining arm was glowing and emitting a faint smoke. _So that's where the explosion came from,_ he mused. "Mosquitoes burn easy enough, and yet she still sent them up against me. I confirmed before going into this fight that there were no other life forms within 500 meters of this point, meaning I do not need to hold back." Saitama tilted his head to the side and wondered if he counted as a living being, or if he was too strong to show up on the robo-man's sensors. _Wait, he has a string on his finger, do robots have soulmates?_ "Oh no!" it seemed realization had dawned on the robo-man that Saitama had been well within the 500 meter radius he had set for himself. "That man got caught in the blast!" Saitama felt bad about not immediately reassuring the robo-man that he was alright.

"Whew, thanks," he took a slight step forwards, emerging from a patch of smoke that had probably blocked him from immediate view, "You were amazing, what was that?" The robo-man looked shocked to say the least. "I mean talk about a bug zapper." Saitama forced a laugh, trying to get the awkward silence between them to lift.

It didn't work very well as they were interrupted by the most god awful laughter that Saitama had ever had the misfortune of being subjected to. "Fools!" Saitama looked up at the monstrous mosquito woman that flew above them. "I had no need for those ones anymore. After all…" she trailed off and Saitama watched as she moved to hover behind the robo-man, watched as the monster raised a hand and casually sliced the robo-man nearly in two. "Look at how strong I am now." She had a quite ugly smirk on her face now, looking down her nose at the broken robo-man. What followed that move on the monster's part Saitama could not honestly tell, because he stopped paying attention when the robo-man's string once more caught his attention.

It was bright, but with some frayed edges, though those looked older, more than a couple years at least. There was a tangle in his string, looking much like the one that Saitama's had with Yuuki's. _Maybe the robo-man had a similar story?_ He mused to himself, watching as the fight went on. The robo-man was looking more and more helpless as the fight wore on, missing more and more of his parts. Just as it looked like the robo-man would give up Saitama lifted his hand and smacked the mosquito woman away, smearing her across a building with a rather disgusting spray of gore.

"Damn mosquitoes," he said decisively, brushing his hands against each other to knock any dirt off of them. He turned away from the scene, figuring the robo-man would probably be fine, he looked aware enough to call someone at least. He was halfway across the street when he was called back with a loud shout of "Wait!" stopped him in his tracks. He turned back, looking at the outstretched hand of the robo-man.

"I am a lone cyborg fighting for Justice! My name is Genos!" this Genos character seemed very intense, throwing Saitama off balance. "Tell me your name!"

"Saitama," he said blankly, still taken off guard by the intensity of this other man.

"Take me as your disciple!"

"Uhh…sure?" Saitama lifted his left hand to rub at his head, and that's when he noticed it. Bright and vibrant and tying one person to another. His string connected to this Genos person, not in a tangle, but the other end stretching and tied to the ringer of the broken cyborg laying on the ground before him. He operated in shock, having truly believed that he would never find his soulmate, especially not in such a way, Saitama was barely aware that he agreed to something the man had said. He was barely aware of anything really until he got home and realized he was naked and had missed a call from Yuuki's social worker, though thankfully the missed call had only come in a couple minutes ago.


	4. Chapter 4

Approximately 72 hours had passed since the mosquito incident and Saitama had spent roughly half of them talking to various people in suits and looking for a larger apartment. The one he currently had was much too small for one person, let alone the potential for two and two out of the three suits he had talked to said if he wanted to at least foster Yuuki, then he would need more space. The third suit actually had nothing to say about the girl, he had only ended up asking Saitama questions about his fight with Vaccine Man and whether or not he had displayed strength like that in the past. The questions left him confused but he soon pushed it from his mind, throwing everything he had into looking for a new place to live, probably somewhere that was not in the abandoned district of City Z though. Of the past 72 hours Saitama had probably only gotten about twelve hours of sleep or so, meaning that when he opened his door that morning to the social worker he felt more tired than ever.

"Mr. Saitama," she said primly, seeming to look down her nose at the tired bald man before her. "You have informed us that you have found a new place of residence now is this correct?" She jumped right in without preamble, still looking down her nose at the man, acting superior to him in every way possible, which Saitama thought was totally unfair because they had contacted him about Yuuki before he even had a chance to think about it, something about all other potential guardians suddenly deciding they didn't want to consider her. "You know that before settling in we will have to conduct an exam of the premises. To make sure that it is suitable for Yuuki you will have to meet a number of specifications and criteria, you will also have to provide evidence of a stable job to support her and yourself." She sniffed and looked around the entryway to his current apartment, which was littered with boxes and some other oddly scattered items that hadn't quite made it into boxes. "I assume you are prepared to have your new place inspected?" She sniffed at him again and he had to repress the urge to groan aloud at the antics of the insufferable woman.

"Yeah, this way." Saitama finally said, grabbing his keys and heading down the road in the direction of the populated areas of City Z. He did not look to see if the social worker was following him, he could hear the clicking of her heals and the huff she let out quite audibly along with the snapping of his door closing. At least the woman knew how to close a door properly, so he supposed she did have some manners, even if they were barely present when she was around him. He found himself quite unable to care all that much what she thought of him, all things considered he knew that things would work themselves out somehow, after all his string was tangled quite firmly with Yuuki's.

It took them nearly three hours to get the inspection of the house over with and that was really only because the social worker that was with him was hmming and hawing over every little thing. She even had the audacity to point out that there was nothing in the new fridge, to which he pointed out that he was still in the process of moving all of his things into the new place. She had let out a derisive snort at that, turning up her nose and deciding not to say anything in response, probably because she really couldn't say anything to it in response.

"It is adequate," she finally said, making something on her clipboard and giving Saitama a cold look. "We will be giving you and Yuuki a trial run this weekend, she will be dropped off by one of our people this Friday and will stay with you until Sunday. We will pick her up at noon where we will evaluate her condition to gauge whether or not you are a suitable guardian for the child. If at any point Yuuki feels uncomfortable or unsafe in your care she will call us and we will immediately pick her up, whereupon our consideration of you being her guardian shall be terminated and you shall be blacklisted for any future attempts at adopting a child. I wish you the best of luck Mr. Saitama." She turned and strode from the apartment, her last words having dripped equal parts sarcasm and venom. There could be no doubt that she did not like him and Saitama could only be glad that she was not solely in charge of making the decision of where Yuuki would go, because if that were the case he would never get custody of her.

Friday dawned with Saitama sorting through some of the boxes he had brought over from the old apartment, putting things away and trying to figure out what he was supposed to do all weekend with a little girl…maybe they could watch an anime together? He mused over that silently, pulling more of the items from the box he was working on. He would have to go get the rest of them later on, maybe that's the first thing he and Yuuki could do as a 'bonding experience.'

 _I think that could work out quite well, as long as Yuuki stays close we should not have that much of a problem with any monsters that might show up._ He looked around the room once more noting with satisfaction that most of the items he had unpacked already were in their places. _But we have to do that tomorrow I think, its already noon and I still need to get anything for her that she doesn't bring along…_ A knock on his door broke him from his thoughts, dragging his attention to the door. He checked his watch one more time before getting up to go check the door.

"Mr. Saitama!" an excited ball of what appeared to be pink fluff and child tried to tackle him when he opened the door. Saitama looked at the social worker that had brought Yuuki, noting with some relief that this one was different from the woman that he had been dealing with before this point. Apparently something in his face relayed his slight confusion and panic at the sudden onslaught of little girl.

"We were not sure if you had been able to get necessities yet, so we brought some along," the man said, hiding a smile and straitening his tie a bit. "If you could come down to the car really quickly we can bring up anything you are missing."

"Ahh, that would be helpful, Yuuki-chan," he gently pried the little girl from his middle and looked down at her, able to see now that the pink fluff was, in fact, a massive stuffed rabbit. "Uhh, why don't you go settle your bag and rabbit in the room you will be staying in? Its second door down the hall on the left," he pointed towards it vaguely and let out a small, almost inaudible, breath when she smiled and skipped off down the hall. "Right, so let's go get the rest of her stuff then…"

The man was hiding a smile again as he turned, leading Saitama down the stairs to check what he would need against what he had already for Yuuki. _Damn it if these strings aren't worth it…_ he allowed his mind to wander off as he took out the items he would need from the man's car, carrying most of it up the stairs himself. _Of course it will be worth it though, they wouldn't tangle if it wasn't worth it._ He smiled as he walked back into the apartment to see Yuuki sitting down at the small table in the living room area playing quietly with a couple of dolls. "Thank you," Saitama called to the man, who deposited the items he had been carrying and left with a reminder about the calls that they should expect to check in on their progress. "Yuuki-chan, how would you like to help me move some last boxes here with me tomorrow?"


	5. Chapter 5

For such a small apartment Saitama sure did have a lot of stuff. He looked over the boxes that littered the hallway to his old home. Yuuki stood beside him, looking around the admittedly run down place with wide, happy eyes. "Woah, Mr. Saitama, you lived here?" For the life of him he could not figure out why the girl sounded so awed with the tiny cramped apartment. "You must not be afraid of tiny places at all! That's so cool!" and just like that the illusion of awe of his home was broke, replaced instead with an odd awe of the _size_ of the home. Yuuki rushed off to look into a box that had been half filled with his collection of Manga and some clothes that he had not brought to the new apartment. Saitama for the life of him could not figure out what to do with the little girl now that they were here, it's not like she could do much in the way of carrying any of the boxes. He looked around for anything he could give the girl to make her feel useful when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. A somewhat demanding knock that was accompanied by a somewhat demanding utterance of "Master!"

Saitama narrowed his eyes and glanced sharply at the door, vaguely able to recognize the voice on the other side of the wood. _Now where have I heard that voice before?_ He glanced over at Yuuki's inquisitive face, subtly gesturing her to duck behind the large box she was sat beside, making sure that she would be hidden from view incase whoever was outside was not of the friendly variety. With a fluid motion Saitama crossed to the door and pulled it open, just enough so that his head could stick out and he could brace the door with his own body and strength. He was probably scowling just a bit when he took in the site before him, the tall figure of a blonde cyborg linked with a tell-tale red string. A red string that connected him to the two people within the tiny apartment in some way. Otherwise known as Saitama's damn soulmate. _Ah, what was his name again? I know he told it to me…it was gen-something or other…Gene maybe?_ His musings were cut short once more by the voice of the cyborg uttering that demanding "Master!" once again.

"How did you find me? Wait, even better question, why are you here?" Saitama had narrowed his eyes at the cyborg. Soulmate or not he was not going to let any potential harm come to Yuuki if he could help it. "And what was your name again?" Saitama was buying time for now, trying to figure out if the cyborg would be a danger to his daughter at all. _When did I even start thinking of her as my daughter?_

"My name is Genos, Master Saitama!" Did this kid know how to make any facial expressions beyond serious?

"Don't call me master," he still had his eyes narrowed at the other man, still had himself firmly between Genos and Yuuki. A pregnant silence stretched between the two men as they sized each other up, well as Saitama sized up Genos and Genos did whatever it was that cyborgs did when confronted by reluctant teachers. The silence was broken by a soft sneeze from behind Saitama, apparently Yuuki had left the relative safety of the box and had come up behind Saitama without his or Genos noticing her. Both men stated at the noise, Saitama opened the door wider in his efforts to check on the little girl and Genos raised a hand in a defensive manner before he noticed that the noise came from a wide eyed little girl who was looking between the two of them.

"Mr. Saitama," her voice broke the two men from whatever spell her sudden appearance had cast on them. "Do you have any juice Mr. Saitama?"

Saitama blinked down at the little girl standing next to him, "Uhh, yeah, give me a moment then Yuuki-chan." Yuuki nodded, flashing a smile at the two of them before skipping off to the kitchen, the clatter of cups moving around coming soon after. "W-why don't you come inside for a moment then Genos?" Saitama finally said, judging the other man to not be too much of a threat, after all if he was going to hurt Yuuki he would have done so when he had a chance to earlier, instead he had lowered his hand and powered his weapon down. Genos nodded once and stepped into the apartment after Saitama, following him to the living room area in silence.

"Mr. Saitama, do you and your friend want juice boxes?" Yuuki asked brightly, skipping from the kitchen with three juice boxes in hand, not waiting for a reply from the two men she deposited them and a box of animal crackers onto the table where Saitama and Genos had already taken seats in silence. "Hi, I'm Yuuki, Mr. Saitama is gonna be my new daddy!" Saitama choked on the juice he had just taken a sip of at the declaration of the little girl. Genos and Yuuki both appeared concerned for him when he started coughing to clear his airways.

"Right…Genos why are you here?" Saitama said to change the subject, deciding the discussion of him being Yuuki's new dad could definitely be left to another point in time.

"To be your disciple."

"I don't need a disciple." He trailed off and looked at Genos again, noting the shiny, probably new, arms that Genos had. "Ah...I see you are all fixed up then?"

"Yes, most of my body is mechanical so if the parts are available they can be easily repaired." Yet another silence stretched between the two adults, broken only by the soft rustle of Yuuki attempting to find a particular animal within the box of animal crackers. "What kind of parts do you use Sensei?"

"I don't use parts…"

"Not even that flesh colored covering on your head?"

It was an innocent question really, but not one that he particularly wanted to hear and he could feel a vein beginning to tick in his forehead. "That's my skin."

"Impossible," Genos looked mildly shocked and somewhat concerned, "that would mean that you went bald at a young age but-"

"So what, I'm bald! You don't have to make a big deal about it, what's your problem man?" Saitama's outburst drew the attention of Yuuki from her animal crackers to the two adults in the room. She looked between them, lightly holding what looked to be a lion cracker daintily in one hand.

"You want to hear my story?" Genos asked, his eyes widened slightly at the perceived honor. Saitama made a small noise of protest but was steamrolled over by the cyborg. "Four years ago…I was a normal human being until I was about fifteen years old. I lived a peaceful and relatively happy life together with my family in this dog-eat-dog world. But one day, a mad cyborg went out of control and attacked our town. A runaway cyborg…I suppose a malfunction in his body modification generated an irregularity in his brain. He was destroying everything. Parks, schools, buildings, my house…he even took the lives of my family. Miraculously, I survived. I was just a weak fifteen year old boy, alone in the ruins of that town and at the end of my strength. Just then, Dr. Kuseno happened by. He was a professor for Justice on a journey to stop the violence caused by the rampaging of the mad cyborg who had wiped out my town. I asked the good doctor to preform modification surgery on my body. Then I was reborn as a cyborg for justice and I promised the good doctor that someday I would destroy the mad cyborg. Four years passed. I was nineteen and rambling from town to town and eliminating evil. I had defeated countless monsters and evil organizations. But because I had turned up no leads to the rampaging cyborg, I was spending my days in irritation and impatience. How long had I been chasing phantoms of that mad cyborg while ridding the world of evil? And then, one week ago, when that mosquito monster showed up, I had completely let down my guard. I never imagined anything but the mad cyborg could be able to defeat me, so without analyzing the data on my opponent, I rushed into the fight. The result, as you know, was that an opponent displaying immense strength bested me. If you, Saitama-Sensei, had not been passing by, she would certainly have destroyed me. You saved my life. When you saved my life, as Dr. Kuseno had once done, it increased my already heavy sense of responsibility. Now, no matter what, I cannot die until I have destroyed that mad cyborg. To that end, as a cyborg for justice, I must continue to fight evil until I encounter that mad cyborg again. I must get stronger! When I saw that one punch by you last week, I realized that I must study under you. If only I could get that strong…Saitama-sensei, I have an archenemy I must defeat! This fight is not only for myself – I also bear the burden of my home town and Dr. Kuseno. I know I have much to learn. But I need great strength to demolish great evil!"

Saitama could feel the vein in his forehead ticking with annoyance, didn't the kid ever hear of taking a breath when he spoke? He glanced at Yuuki, who was looking at Genos with wide eyes, her juice and animal cracker forgotten temporarily in the rush of information that had just been provided by the cyborg. Apparently, though, the cyborg was not finished quite yet because he opened his mouth and was prepared to continue monologuing until a small hand cut him off. Yuuki had just put an animal cracker in the cyborg's open mouth to cease the endless flow of word spilling forth. After a moment of shock, where Yuuki went back to her spot next to Saitama and Genos worked on chewing the food in his mouth, Saitama finally found his voice. "Cool it, keep it to twenty words or less!"

Yet another pause, _maybe I should start keeping a tally of these?_ "Saitama-sensei, here is the shortened version. Teach me how to become as strong as you!"

"Genos."

"Yes!"

"How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen!"

"You're young. You could soon surpass me."

Both Genos and Yuuki looked at the bald man, one in shock, the other in awe that she was in the presence of two powerful people. "Really?!"

"Yes, I'm twenty-five, but I started training when I was twenty-two." Genos made a nose of surprise at that declaration but Saitama had the attention of both of his younger companions, and seriously how did he manage to get these two to be entangled in his life like they were. "I'll teach you, but it's hard. Can you handle it?"

There was an intense whirring noise and a glowing in Genos' eyes. "Yes!" he declared, then he was across the room and crouching down in what appeared to be a mockery of a sprinter's starting position, much to the confusion of both Saitama and Yuuki. "I detect something approaching at high speed."

Just then something crashed through the roof and Saitama reacted on instinct, pulling Yuuki around so that she was protected by his body mass and whirling around to confront the praying mantis monster that had just decided to enter the apartment via a previously non-existent skylight.

"Keh Heh Heh! My name is –" unfortunately for the monster it never got to finish that sentence because Saitama promptly punched its head off almost as soon as its feet had touched the worn boards of his floor.

"Pay for the ceiling!" he said over the splat of the creatures head on his wall. Yuuki clutched onto his pant leg, using his cape as a way to hide from the world. "Yuuki, do me a favor, go to the kitchen and stay there until me or Genos comes to get you ok?" Yuuki looked up at him and nodded seriously, pausing only to pick up an over-sized sweater from an open box and pulling it on, using it as a way to hide instead of using his cape.

"There are more of them outside Saitama-sensei," Genos quietly said, his expression no less intense, but seeming to pick up in the fact that Saitama did not want to scare Yuuki anymore than the child had been already. Without another word Saitama turned and walked out of the house. _No way am I going to let these assholes put my kid in danger!_ He growled to himself. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of some sort of slug and frog monsters. He vaguely heard Genos saying something, but he wasn't paying attention to him, too focused on taking out the perceived threat to his small family and yes, he included Genos in that dynamic, even if it had been such a short time knowing him.

He was so intently focused on the two that he had just punched that he failed to notice the third monster that had showed up below him until he was being yanked through the sidewalk into a fairly tight hole in the ground. "Wha…" he looked around, surprise wiping the intensity from his entire body as he looked around himself for whatever had just pulled him under.

"Saitama-sensei!" Genos started to run towards him in concern when an explosion sounded from behind them, drawing the attention of both man and cyborg to what appeared to be a very large and very shiny robot.

"I detect high energy levels," it said in a very robotic voice, its attention apparently focused on Genos. "Are you a cyborg too?" An intense staring match passed between the two cyborgs before the shiny one decided to break it by dismissing Genos entirely. "You are not my target." It said, then, moving faster than Saitama would have thought it capable of for its size, appeared in front of Genos and raised its arm to strike him. "You are in my way."

From his vantage point Saitama watched with awe as Genos stopped the strike before it could connect with his face. He didn't even budge an inch when the hit landed and Saitama could just imagine that he had his usual intense face set in a glare that would be directed at the larger cyborg. "I want," Saitama thought he could hear the crackle of electricity start up when Genos started to speak, "to ask you a few questions." Genos managed to smack the arm that had been seconds from taking him out to the side, just in time for growling laughter to sound from behind Saitama. "Sensei!" Genos ignored his opponent in favor of focusing on Saitama.

"Well done Ground Dragon, he can't move a bit!" Whatever it was that was behind Saitama said with another growling laugh, drawing his attention back to himself. He listened with half an ear as Genos engaged in battle with the other cyborg and completely ignoring the monster that seemed to be talking to him, instead he directed the rest of his attention to attempting to move his wrist from where it was pressed between a pointy rock and his body. The lion monster did not seem appreciate the lack of attention to him and his massive claws, if the two claws that were now threatening his eyeballs was any indication.

"Ah!" Saitama said in triumph, finally getting his writs free and finding that he could emerge from the hole. "Enough joking around then. Now is your chance to apologize for my celling!" The lion monster growled at him while the other monster looked terrified beyond all reason.

"I'll show you the power of the Beast King!" The lion roared, claws out and descending towards Saitama. "Lion Slash!" Saitama ducked backwards under the slashing claws, watching with disinterest as the lion just kept slashing at him and he kept dodging. He let out one last fierce roar and brought his paw down for the kill, Saitama just raised one hand and punched, completely obliterating his opponent where he stood. A soft squeak from behind him drew is attention to a fresh hole in the ground where the mole monster seemed to think it could escape him. His eyes narrowed and he dug his own hole, no way was he going to let that little rodent go, who knows what it could do when unsupervised. _Nope, can't risk it going for my family._ So he dug until he intercepted the mole and took that out too.

When he emerged from the ground he was greeted by the tearful eyes of Yuuki. Apparently she had come out of the building at some point during the fight. Saitama would have been annoyed but this, except she was sniffiling and immediately flung herself at him, burying her face in his pant leg. "Mr. Saitama I heard the monster laughing and I couldn't find you. Mr. Saitama I thought the monster had got you." His heart cracked a little at the words of the little girl. Crouching Saitama pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his cape around her as a sort of blanket and deciding it would be best to pick the distressed girl up and carry her with him. She would be safer this way, besides, it sounded like Genos was done with the other cyborg.

Somehow he had lost Genos in the events that were happening, so he simply followed along the red string that attached him to his soul mate. Thankfully Genos was intact, though the same could not be said for his opponent. It looked like Genos was threatening what now appeared to be a gorilla...who makes a cyborg gorilla?

"You will never defeat the Beast King! He is the second strongest!" Saitama heard the gorilla say in that robotic voice. "He will defeat you!"

"Mr. Saitama didn't you beat up the mean Lionman?" Yuuki's innocent question, slightly muffled by the cape and Saitama's shoulder. He probably looked ridiculous now that he thought about it, what with holding a ten year old girl with his cape wrapping around both of them.

The gorilla paled at the simple statement and the fact that Saitama has just dropped an eyeball that had been clinging to him at its feet. That was all it took for him to spill everything out about the House of Evolution and the man named Genus.


	6. Chapter 6

Saitama was having a bit of a moral dilemma as he tuned out the cybernetic gorilla that was rambling on about the scientist that had made it. He was trying to figure out what to do with Yuuki, he didn't feel right taking her along, and he couldn't just leave her behind, that would be irresponsible. Similarly, he could not let this House of Devolution, or whatever it was, keep existing and posing a threat to his small family. He supposed he would just have to bring her along and ask Genos to keep an eye on her? But then he was not sure how Genos would react to being asked to watch the little girl. He didn't really know the first thing about Genos other than he was a long winded cyborg hell bent on a probably misguided revenge mission. _Can I trust him with her care? Should I even do this today?_ He was broken from his silent musings when the gorilla said something about the scientist wanting him for his body.

"I'm not about that," he said, inperceptivly holding Yuuki a bit closer to him.

"That's not what he means Sensei," Genos had his hand held out threateningly towards the gorilla. "He plans to use your superhuman physiology in his research on evolution. If we let him go he will only send more assassins." Genos looked like he would have continued to talk except Yuuki had let out a horrified squeak and buried her head farther into Saitama's cape at the mention of assassins and Saitama figured he should stop that train of thought where it was. A child shouldn't have to see their parental figures die twice, let alone the once, even if Saitama was sure he could survive anything this Genius dude could throw his way, there was no way he would let Yuuki be exposed to the violence that was attempted murder and probable dismemberment.

"Alright let's go," he sent a quick glare at the gorilla and felt bad about the satisfaction he had at the look of terror that dawned on its face. Saitama turned and started marching in the direction he was pretty sure the House of Ecolution was at.

"What? Right now?" Genos' serious expression was broken at that statement.

"Yep, tomorrow is sale day, can't go then." Saitama continued walking, only pausing to shift Yuuki slightly so she would be more comfortable when they started to move faster, because really, the faster they got the House of Edoluvan taken care of the faster he could think of a plan to get to know Genos better. As he walked he vaguely heard Genos talking to the gorilla, but he figured it was not something he should listen into, besides Yuuki was giving him a curious look now.

It took four hours of running for them to get close to where they were going. Yuuki had switched from Saitama's arms to going on piggy back and wearing his cape for him. She smiled and laughed as they ran, making Saitama smile a bit as he heard the happy sound. Genos still looked intense as always, though Saitama thought he could see a fond light in his cybernetic eyes. There had been little attempt at conversation as they went, though Genos had wondered at his inability to fly, and Yuuki had looked as if she thought that would have been the best thing ever and said she felt like she was flying where she was. That is what had led him to stopping for a moment and pinning his cape to Yuuki's shoulders, after all if you are going to fly you should do it right and all the heroes who flew in his comics had capes. If his little girl wanted to fly, then she would have to do it properly he had told her and Genos causing her to giggle and even Genos had smiled for a split second.

"This is the House of Evolution." Genos stated the obvious as the group of three stopped in front of a building. _Kinda obvious for a secret laboratory isn't it?_ Saitama found himself wondering as he knelt down so Yuuki could stand on her own footing.

Genos crouched down suddenly and with a strong whir of charging machinery fired off a blast from his arm cannons. Saitama blinked at the sight of the demolished building once the dust cloud had settled down. "Dude, what gives?" Saitama said, subtly trying to clear the dust from his tongue, looking over at Genos where he had straightened up from his half crouched position.

"I found this was the most efficient way to dispose of them." Genos stated simply, brushing his hands off and looking at Saitama and Yuuki through the still clearing dust. His frown seemed to deepen as he slowly approached them and knelt down before Yuuki. Saitama raised an eyebrow in confusion at Genos' actions until he saw that he was gently helping Yuuki brush dirt from her hair and shoulders. For her part Yuuki was rolling along with it and smiling, returning the gesture by brushing dust from Genos' hair, mostly by ruffling what she could reach.

"That wasn't very nice though Mr. Genos," Yuuki frowned and paused in her hair ruffling. "Maybe they wanted to have us go through a maze?" She was pouting slightly and Saitama wished he had a camera with him, the two of them were making the cutest, and weirdest, picture he had ever seen.

Genos' hands stilled for a moment as he thought over the words of the little girl before him. "Well, there weren't very nice people in there and I'm sure Saitama-Sensei would be very sad if we had gone in there and something had happened to you." Yuuki thought over what had had said for a moment before seeming to come to a decision of her own.

"But what about the trapdoor over there?" Saitama followed along to where she was pointing at. Seeing that the dust had cleared off enough to reveal that there was indeed a trap door off to his right and slightly behind him in the rubble of the building. "Mr. Saitama what if the mean people are hiding down there?"

That decided for him, now he had to go down there, he couldn't leave Yuuki looking distressed and Genos looking somewhat baffled by the exchange...and the little girl that was now patting his golden head in an attempt to reach at some of the dust she had missed earlier. Saitama walked over to the trap door and pulled it up from its hinges with a squeal of protesting metal and the cracking of breaking hinges, revealing a stairway that led into darkness. "Looks like it leads underground." He said to his two companions as they crossed over to where he was, both looking down the stairway. Yuuki peered around Genos' legs to look. "Yuuki-chan, I'm going to need you to stick close ok? Stay right behind me and Genos, and if I tell you to run or to hide somewhere you do it ok?" Saitama waited for Yuuki to give a nod of understanding before he turned to walk down the stairs with Genos beside him. His self proclaimed disciple seeming to take the protection of his unofficial child on with as serious an air as he always had with, well anything so far as Saitama had seen.

"Ahh, sure is roomy down here." Saitama said, looking around the spacious corridor that seemed to stretch on endlessly before them. Genos was to his right a few feet, analyzing the way ahead and Yuuki was following close enough that either Saitama or Genos would be able to snatch her out of harms way.

"I'm picking up life forms ahead," Genos muttered, frowning into the distance. "They are all the same. Clones perhaps?" He trailed off and Yuuki silently drew closer to Saitama, still wrapped in his cape, the big buttons looking rather silly in comparison to her fluffy pink sweater. Saitama thought that they probably looked the odd picture of a domestic hero family and had to stop himself from laughing at the thought. "Sensei!" Genos' voice broke him from his internal musings and drew his attention towards the far end of the hallway where it looked like the lights had started to go dark. "Two life forms are headed this way!"

Saitama could now hear the echoing thump of something large running towards them and stepped to the side slightly so that he was blocking Yuuki from the view of whatever was running down the hallway.

"Oh, there they are but there are two of them, which one is it?" The being that approached them resembled a rhinoceros beetle and was carrying a man in what looked to Saitama to be a very painful grip, if the blood on the man's face was anything to go by. He thought he registered the man in the grip on the monster mention that it was him that they were after, but then again the monster's loud voice interrupted his thoughts. "Then you don't need the one on the left." The monster's fist slammed out and smashed into Genos, knocking the cyborg into the wall, creating a spider web of cracks from the point of impact. Saitama noticed through his dawning horror that the monster had dropped the man that he had been carrying with him when he hit Genos, but then the worry for his soul-mate...student, whatever it was he was supposed to call Genos, took over and for a moment he thought he saw their string dim.

"Genos!" He could not quite keep the worry from his voice as he looked over at Genos, taking in first the fact that he seemed to be embedded in the wall, then taking in that the string that connected them was still in place and as bright as ever, reassuring him that Genos should still be alive. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but they were still in danger, and he was not going to let this bug hurt his family anymore if he could help it. First and foremost this meant that he needed to lead the bug away from Genos and Yuuki...and that man on the ground over there too, might as well save all the human life that he could while he had a chance.

"I am Carnage Kabuto!" The bug declared, standing just behind Saitama now. He whirled around and moved Yuuki gently to a place she would hopefully be more protected, meaning that he had maneuvered himself so he was now between the bug and his little family. "I've got a battle test room, let's fight."

Saitama shot a quick glare at the bug at those crass words. "Yuuki, stay with Genos, don't leave his side until I come back for you ok?" He waited for the little girl to agree with him before he stepped towards the bug. "Lead the way then." His voice was probably more serious now than it had been at any time in the recent past.

The bug grinned and led him to a large room that was just down the hallway and Saitama sent up a quick prayer to any gods that would listen that Genos and Yuuki would know to get out of the compound while he took care of the bug, though he had a feeling that that would not be the case if he had learned anything about the two in his short time knowing them it was that the two a) seemed to be willing to follow him to hell itself if that's where he wanted to go an b) they were stubborn little shits that didn't know when to get a safe distance away, though Yuuki was willing enough to listen to him when he told her that she should stay safe.

"Big ain't it?" The bug made a grandiose gesture to the room around them, as if telling Saitama to take in the gigantic empty white room around them. "It's the biggest place in the facility! This is where we test to see who is fit for battle! Let the killing begin!" With that declaration the bug took a step towards where Saitama was standing, but was interrupted by a burst of fire...a very familiar burst of fire that had Saitama both relieved and worried about the well being Genos and Yuuki, because if Genos were blasting fire cannons at the bug then that meant that Yuuki could not be that far behind him. Hopefully Genos had had the foresight to tell her to stay well out of danger though.

Saitama was distracted from that line of thought though as Genos rocketed forwards, moving faster than most normal people would have been able to track to jump into the air just before where the Bug was standing and delivering something that he called out as being "Machine Gun Blows!" It reminded Saitama of his consecutive normal punches, but a lot more fiery, and probably a lot more intense, but then Genos seemed to be the kind of guy that got all intense about everything that he did, so that part did not really surprise him. What did surprise him was that even after the intense blows that the bug had just endured, he did not look at all hurt. In fact, he punched Genos once, but that was all it took to knock out Genos' eye, and have him bouncing up from the floor where he hit. Saitama moved forwards to catch him without thinking, one arm curling around his back and shoulders, the other one having caught him on his upper thigh. Genos coughed out steam and struggled to raise his head up from where it was resting over Saitama's shoulder. He looked like he was trying to lift his hand up but was having trouble and Saitama wondered if he had pushed himself too hard.

As gently as he could he laid Genos on the ground, making sure to cradle his head so if he dropped him by accident he would not have 'cuncussion' added to his list of injuries, even I might already have one. _Can cyborgs even get concussions?_ He wondered, though aloud he only expressed his concern with the simple statement of "Don't push yourself too hard."

Genos ignored him and spread his fingers out on the hand he had finally managed to raise up and point towards the bug. Saitama only had the warning crackle of electrical energy gathering in the palm of Genos' hand before a blast of fire power larger than the first one was emitted from the cyborg, rushing with a scorching wave of heat and more intensity than the blast that had been used on the mosquitoes when they first met towards the bug that was before them. Saitama could have laughed at the thought of this bug burning like the mosquitoes had if it weren't for the fact that it took in a deep breath and blew the raging inferno back at them.

For the second time in his life Saitama was engulfed in the intense heat of a raging inferno, though this time the fires did not burn his clothing off, though it did seem to singe his eyebrows. "Genos! Are you ok?" He managed to ask after the smoke had cleared a bit from around them. Genos looked like he was about to reply, but a distressed shout of "Mr. Genos! Mr. Saitama!" And the thumping of small feet on the tiled floor distracted the three combatants to the presence of an incredibly out of place girl wrapped in Saitama's white cape approaching them with a panicked look on her face.

"Mr. Genos! Your hair is all fluffy!" Yuuki felt the need to point out when she came to a stop before them. She dropped to her knees beside Genos and reached out to pat him on the head, and damn if that wasn't cute. But the bug was now looking at the two people in Saitama's life that meant more to him than anything as if they were playthings that he wanted to break.

"Now I'm looking forward to this," Saitama stood from where he was and approached his enemy, fist clenched and feeling more righteous fury than he had felt when fighting Vaccine man.

"Is that so?" The damn bug was mocking him now. "Then bring it on. Gimme all you got." Saitama started forwards towards the bug, face set in a scowl as he took in the bug standing confidently before him. "Oh…I know…I know…you're supposed to be strong!" Saitama ignored the mocking of the bug, instead taking a moment to position himself between the bug and where Genos and Yuuki were on the ground behind him.

"You're supposed to be this place's ultimate weapon right? Clearly you're different from the ones this morning. You're positively brimming with confidence." Saitama mocked the bug back.

The bug, it seemed, did not appreciate the mocking tone being turned on him as he chose that moment to launch himself around Saitama. He had his fist drawn back in preparation of probably an intense hit when a gasp from Yuuki made Saitama turn around. He watched as the bug stilled his blow and fluttered to the very far end of the room. Breathe seeming to come in bursts and panic evident even from this distance.

"What're you doing?" Saitama turned towards the other end of the room where the bug was trembling against a wall looking like he was sweating buckets.

"How did you get such power?!" the bug shouted, the barest hint of panic evident in his voice.

"So you want to know too, huh?" Saitama smirked slightly, looking at the bug. "You listen up too, Genos." Both Genos and the bug had their attention locked onto Saitama. "Listen up. What matters is continuing this harsh training regimen! Listen up Genos, you must stick with it, no matter how hard. I was able to get strong in three years." Saitama paused for effect. "One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten kilometer run Every Day!" Everyone in the room looked shocked or awed at the declaration of Saitama's training. "If you are fiddling around with a 'new humanity' and 'evolution' you will never make it. Human Strength lies in our ability to change ourselves." Saitama ended his speech, quite satisfied with what he said, now he just waited for the reactions of his audience.

"Sensei..." Ah so it was Genos that chose to speak up first. "You are so fu-"

"Awesome!" Yuuki interrupted whatever it was that Genos had been about to say and drawing attention to where she was bouncing on the balls of her feet next to a now standing Genos.

"W-where did the child come from?" The new voice drew the attention of the gathered people to the door where the man that the bug had been carrying was leaning heavily against the door frame and frowning at the sight of Yuuki. Though now that he gave it more thought Saitama supposed it could be a grimace of pain.

Saitama frowned at the tone the man had used, even though it seemed to mostly be of confusion. "She's my daughter." He realized after he had said it when he saw the wide eyed awed look on the girl's face that this was the first time he had declared her to be such out loud, and even if he had been thinking of her as such for some time now.

The man at the door frowned and the bug, that now stood closer to Genos and Yuuki, started to vibrate with some energy. "Oh, I see how it is…" instinct drove Saitama to action. In the blink of an eye he was beside Genos and Yuuki, reaching out and pulling them both behind him, ushering them closer to the door. "Genos, take Yuuki and get out. Now." He leveled a glare at the bug that was now changing colors.

Genos, thankfully, listened to Saitama and picked up Yuuki, making a mad dash towards the doors, though Saitama did not think they would make it. Lights were flashing and bathing the room in an ominous red glow. The tinge of panic in the voice of the man by the door when he next spoke up did not help Saitama with his worry for his family. "Carnage Kabuto? Don't do it! Are you going to fly out of control again?" There was definitely a wobble to his voice there, and Genos and Yuuki were only half way there.

"Fine, don't tell the secret to your strength," the bug spoke up over the audible snap of something. "You're probably not stronger than me anyway." Saitama could see veins building in his body, and he just hoped Genos could run _faster_. That he could get himself and Yuuki and that guy by the door out and into safety. "Now you're making me mad, so I'm gonna kill you little by little." The bug was now significantly bigger and oddly cobalt blue and luminescent green in color. His teeth had gotten longer and he bulged muscle where Saitama had assumed had been an exoskeleton before. "Ahh…when I'm like this I lose all reason for a week." Saitama heard the omonus thunk of the door finally closing and felt his heart sink because he knew that Genos had not made it out with Yuuki and that the other guy was still there as well. "My fighting instincts stay on edge. After I kill you I'm gonna go into town and rampage until next Saturday, though maybe I'll start by playing with those little toys over there."

Saitama felt a chill at those words, the threat to Yuuki and Genos stilling his movements with fear. That seemed to be something that the bug could sense because the next thing Saitama knew there was a fist in his face, launching his pliant body through the air. Air rushed in his ears until he was intercepted by another fist and then suddenly the bug was all around him, hitting him from every side, from every angle that could be imagined. He remained limp as he ricochet off of the walls, sometimes being punched, but mostly just trying to break from his shock, from his horror at the images that were now playing in his head of his family being broken, brutally bent at the cruel hands of the bug that was distracted by him at the moment. The bug landed two blows to his face before he crossed his arms over instinctively, even though the blows were barely felt.

"PAPA!" his little girl's scream, desperate and broken is what broke him from his shock, what broke him from the beginnings of spiraling despair. He glared at the monster, avoiding its next blow and aiming his own, once more taking out the monster in one hit, though this time he did not feel the crushing weight that he usually did, no, this time he felt intense relief that his family was alright.

"H-how?" the man at the door was cut off by a joyous shout from Yuuki.

"Papa!" she ran up to him and hugged him around the legs.

"Oh no," Saitama muttered, looking up at Genos panicked, "Today is bargain day at the Super Market!" Genos blinked and Yuuki looked up at him.

"Y-you defeated Carnage Kabuto," the man that was at the door still seemed to be processing the fact that the bug was gone, something that Yuuki had no problem with, as she frowned at him, walked over and kicked him in the shins, much to everyone's shock.

"You big meanie, you can't just send big bug men after people, didn't your parents tell you to play nice with others?" Saitama wanted to laugh at the shocked look on the other man's face, because really, he doubted that the kick hurt him much, but being yelled at by a child is a novelty that most adults never encounter. "You need to be nice to people Mr." she added, reaching up and patting him on the arm before running back over to Saitama and Genos, grabbing one hand each for them. "Papa, I think your paper said the store is open late, maybe we can still go there…Mr. Genos can come along too right?" Saitama smiled at the girl and nodded.

"If he wants to." He looked at Genos, who nodded and then walked over to a wall, punching through it to the outside before he picked Yuuki up once more and began the run back to the city and to the sales that he had wanted to make today. The moving of the rest of his apartment would have to wait until another time…maybe he could get Genos to help him?


	7. Chapter 7

Another couple of suits had visited Saitama after the incident with the House of Evolution. Showing up at his new apartment just as he, Yuuki and Genos arrived there from shopping and Saitama had to wonder if they had been waiting there for him, because really it was uncanny how they just showed up after the three of them arrived home. For a moment Saitama wondered if they were going to yell at him because he took Yuuki with him when he went to take out that organization, but they only wanted to ask him some questions about whether or not he had been involved with the incident that had happened in the abandoned district of City Z. Understandably Saitama was confused, because really, he had no idea who these suits were and why they kept talking to him. They had shown up after he had dealt with Vaccine Man too and had never really said why they were there, just that they would be keeping an eye on him, which totally was not creepy at all, nope, not at all. They left soon enough though and Saitama was left to try and find a place to let Genos sleep for the night, because Yuuki insisted that he stay and neither of them had had the heart to tell her no.

So that's how Saitama and Genos found themselves standing awkwardly in the doorway to Saitama's new room. Each of them staring at the room that was half cluttered with boxes and trying to figure out how best to work this out. Yuuki was already in her room and tucked in her futon, exhausted from the excitement of the day. "I, uh, I think I have an old pair of sweat pants you can sleep in." Saitama finally spoke up, rubbing the back of his head trying to think of something to say to make this less awkward. "You can take the futon, I don't have a spare, so I'll just sleep on the extra blankets." He still rubbed the back of his head, avoiding Genos' eyes and wishing he had an extra futon, even though before a week ago he thought that he would not ever need to have one.

"No, Sensei, I don't need to sleep that much, you should take the futon!" Genos' voice rose in pitch and Saitama feared he would wake Yuuki before he made a frantic hushing gesture towards him. "Sorry, Sensei," he added quieter this time. Saitama just sighed and started fixing a nest of the spare blankets that he had amassed over time.

"Look, Genos, you are a guest here, and a good host does not let their guest sleep on the bare floor, especially when their shin kicking daughter may find out and become very disappointed in them." He smiled a bit, looking back over at the frowning cyborg, trying to convey his little joke to the other. Genos didn't smile and Saitama wondered if he even could smile, but that was a question for another time. "Hey look, if it makes you feel any better the blankets are probably just as comfortable as the futon, so really I'll be fine, but you're injured and it's not just Yuuki that was concerned when you took all those hits." He stopped talking and looked back down at his task, folding a small throw blanket into a makeshift pillow for the night. "Let's just go to sleep now, yeah?" He didn't look up again as she settled into his blanket nest, hearing Genos shuffle around some before he finally gave in and crossed the room to the futon.

"Sensei," he paused, waiting for Saitama to make a nose of acknowledgement before he continued on, "Thank you." Saitama just hummed in response, though he had a small smile on his face as he listened to the shuffle of clothes and blankets at Genos settled in. The utter domesticity of it all making Saitama feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like this was truly something that was meant to be, but that was a thought for another time, it was far too late to start thinking along that line.

The sun is what woke Saitama on a rather dull Tuesday morning, well that and the fact that his window was cracked open and there was a rather loud bird singing at his window. For a while he just lay there, his hands clasped over his chest and staring up at the ceiling in thought. After the adventures of Saturday he felt rather lonely at the absence of Genos and Yuuki, both having gone their separate ways on Sunday, Yuuki back with the social workers and Genos to go get his face fixed. He felt...empty...at the loss of his companions, the loss of human contact that he had gotten used to over such a short amount of time. He would have stayed laying there in his blanket nest atop his futon if the cell phone, he still was not used to having, had not rung. He slowly reached out for it and noted that the caller ID was for the adoption agency.

"Hello?" He answered the phone with no preamble, wondering why they were calling him and hoping that they were not telling him that he had been denied as an applicant.

 _"Mr. Saitama,"_ The voice that greeted him was the disdainful woman that he swore did not like him for some reason or another. _"We are calling to inform you that your application for adoption has been processed through."_

Saitama sat up at that, suddenly more interested in what was going on. "Oh?"

 _"You have been approved for the adoption, we will require that you come out to the agency to file some paperwork. A social worker can either drop Yuuki off at your home when she gets out of school, or you can arrange to pick her up yourself."_ The woman still managed to sound disdainful throughout the conversation, but Saitama didn't care, all he felt was the elation of legally being able to call Yuuki his daughter, and wasn't that a novel idea.

"What time do you need me in the office?" He ended up asking in leu of having anything else to say.

 _"Around noon should be fine, have a nice day Mr. Saitama."_ And then the line went dead with a click, but again Saitama could not find himself caring about the rudeness the woman portrayed because he was able to call Yuuki his legal daughter and no one could take her away without his say so.

"Alright, I'll be there," He already sounded more perky than he had before. The call ended and he checked the time, noticing that it was already ten o'clock. "Gotta get ready then." He muttered to himself, standing up and looking for a nice pair of clean pants to put on.

It took Saitama nearly an hour to get ready and to get to City F where the adoption agency had their main headquarters. Unfortunately he had not turned on the TV before he left, so he was understandably confused when some civilian shrieked and pointed at him screaming about a terrorist. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, confused before looking at the woman who had shrieked, but not moved anywhere beyond that. "Terrorist? Ma'am I have no idea what you are talking about, I'm only here to sign some papers..." He trailed off when the woman blinked at him, now she looked confused. "Ah, sorry, I would love to stay and talk, but I really have to go." He turned away after checking his phone, leaving the stunned woman behind him and entering into the adoption agency's building.

"I'm glad you could make it Mr. Saitama." The dry voice of that agent who hated him greeted him had him turning towards a door that lead into a hallway farther down. "If you would follow me, the director would like to conduct a final interview with you, then you can sign the papers and be on your way." She looked at him as if she had seen something particularly offensive, her nose wrinkled up in what Saitama supposed could have been a cute way, were it not for the ugly attitude that she displayed. "Follow me." She threw over her shoulder, already walking down the hallway without pausing to wait for him.

Saitama had been in the building before, when he first started the adoption process, but he had never been this far into the building, nor had he been asked to see the director of the agency before. So it was with mild curiosity that he followed the Social Worker down the hall and to a rather unassuming door that held a simple plaque declaring 'Agoni Daichi, Director' in fancy script. The Social Worker raped on the door sharply and waited a moment for an answer.

"Ah, welcome Mr. Saitama!" The man who stood to greet him as he entered had a rather impressive cleft chin and a large smile. "I'm sure this won't take long, I just had a few questions for you before we get the papers signed." The man gestured to a seat across from him and Saitama sat down slowly, still not sure why the director of the whole adoption agency would want to talk to him. "Now, you were the one to bring Yuuki to medical care after the monster calling itself Vaccine Man attacked City A?"

"Eh, oh, yeah, I mean yes, I did." Saitama was caught off guard by the question, after all he had thought they were done questioning him about that incident.

"Now, Yuuki said that you actually saved her from the monster when it would have killed her. She also said that you managed to defeat the monster with one hit, but you never made such claims. Is there any reason for that?" Agoni leveled him with a blank look, the barest hint of curiosity seen in the quirk of one eyebrow.

"I did not think that information would be relevant to Yuuki's care in the hands of the doctors, though I was questioned later by some men in official looking suits?" It sounded more like a question than an actual statement to his ears, but he was still confused by the fact that the interview was even happening in the first place.

"Have you heard of the Hero Association before Mr. Saitama?" The question took Saitama off guard since it didn't seem to have any relevance to the conversation at hand.

"The what?" He asked blankly, hoping that his not knowing what that was would not impact his ability to adopt Yuuki.

Agoni seemed to sense the slight distress that was rising in the bald man because he smiled serenely and slid a paper form towards him. The top of the paper declared it an application for the Hero Association. "This will in no way affect your adoption of Yuuki. I was merely asking because my brother founded this association, I have connections within it and wanted to recognize your talents and potential for this particular field. You, obviously, do not need to fill out the paperwork, but if you do I would be a fairly steady income for you to use." Saitama picked up the paper, looking it over quickly before placing it back on the table, not having brought anything with him to put the paper into. "Great! Now that we have that out of the way, there are a few legal papers we will need you to sign in order to finalize the adoption..." More papers were slid over the polished wood of the desk, these ones embossed with the logo for the adoption agency at the top.

Nearly three hours later Saitama was finally _officially_ Yuuki's father and free from the horrors of paperwork. He stretched, reaching his hands up above his head as he cracked his back with a sigh. The papers he had been given that he needed to keep track of were folded up and tucked into the pocket of the pants he was wearing. "Ahh, that was exhausting..." He muttered to himself as he checked the time. "Not enough time to go back home then." He sighed and looked around, noticing what looked like a park only a short distance away from him. People still seemed to be acting nervous around him so he decided that getting lost in the trees for a while would probably be a good idea.

He smiled up at the little patches of sky he could see through the leaves of the trees as he ambled along aimlessly, taking in the scenery and thinking of what he should make for supper, or maybe they could all go out in celebration of the adoption. _I wonder if Genos will show up today?_

"Who are you? You wanna join the Paradisers?" The gruff voice broke him from his silent musing, drawing his attention to a bald man wearing big clunky armor. He had a half smirk on his head, but then again he also had a kunai knife sticking out of the back of his head so Saitama supposed that that could be affecting his judgment.

"The who?" Saitama frowned at the name, scratching the side of his head and trying to think of where he had heard that name before. _Maybe it was when I was out in the city before reaching the adoption place?_ He was not paying that much attention to the other man so it was a surprise to him when an armored fist slammed into his face with the force of a speeding truck. "Uh..you punch pretty damn hard, wow." He flashed a thumbs up at the shocked man. "Is it that weird suit your wearing that does it?"

The man looked ticked off at him now, if the bulging veins in his forehead were anything to go by. "I went to a lot of trouble stealing this suit! An idiot like you doesn't know its value!" The man raised his hands up, the armor he wore building out into the shape of some steroid junkie physique. "I've been waiting for a subject to test its full power on!" Saitama would have been impressed by the suit and maybe the man in the suit too if it were not for the fact that he started windmilling his arms about in some half assed attempt at an attack. He could remember using something similar to that when he was a kid and used the same counter move that his parents had when he was a kid, raising up his hands and catching the attack with both hands. "Just who are y-" Saitama didn't let him finish, instead punching him just hard enough that hopefully he wouldn't actually injure him, just break the armor.

Unfortunately the now trembling man didn't seem to have been wearing anything under the armor, and wasn't that a tragedy, because Saitama had to avert his eyes from the rather disgusting sight of the naked man. "Wait, I just didn't want to find a job man!" The man sounded panicked by the loss of his suit and Saitama supposed that it probably had been a shock for him to have his entire suit of armor literally punched off of him.

"Stop causing trouble and find a job." Saitama still refused to look at the man, even when he made some garbled agreement and ran off into the forest naked as the day he was born and still with the knife sticking out of the back of his head. He let out a breath and glanced in the direction the man had gone, glad that he didn't have to watch his bare ass running away. "That was weird." He moved to start on his walk again when yet another voice broke him from his thoughts.

"Where did Hammerhead go?" He turned wo what looked like a seething mass of shadows that solidified into a very effeminate looking man. "I didn't think there were any of you guys left." Saitama, now thoroughly confused by the goings on of the day, simply pointing a finger in the direction that the naked man had run off in.

"You mean the naked running man? If so, he went that way..." He trailed off, cutting his eyes back towards the other man just in time to see the knife being thrown at him. He just casually raised his hand, catching the knife right before it would have hit his face. "Huh, what's this?" He held up the knife, frowning slightly at it before he dropped it in favor of catching the new flash that was approaching his face. Unfortunately he overestimated how much strength he needed to exert and so ended up accidentally breaking the blade of what was undoubtedly a very expensive sword. "Ehh, dude, what are you doing?"

The other man narrowed his shock widened eyes at Saitama, distrust rising to the forefront. "Don't act like you don't know, you're obviously with the Paradisers."

"I don't even know who that is."

"You're also a bad lier."

"Dude all I wanna do is get my kid from school..." Saitama blinked at this man that apparently didn't believe that he wasn't with those Paradies or whoever they were.

"Likely story." The man slowly sheathed his broken sword, a grin spreading across his face. "You stopped two of my attacks and that's a problem. Born in a Ninja Village I honed those moves since I was a child. But you defeated those moves. That is unforgivable. My pride won't take it."

"Ah, right, can I go now?" Saitama turned to look at where the man had just jumped to. "Like I know you just wanna test yourself against me, but really I need to go get my kid." Normally Saitama would entertain the villain of his want for a spar, but really he was cutting it pretty close as it was now that he thought about it. A soft breeze picked up as the other man completely disregarded his words, instead running around him at high speeds that probably would have had him a blur to anyone else, but Saitama was easily able to track him as he bounced around like an over eager puppy. He was saying something to Saitama as he moved, but honestly the bald man was thinking about what to get for dinner again, trying to figure out how much he, Yuuki and potentially Genos would be able to eat. "Can I go now?" He turned just as the ninja drew close to him over his right shoulder. He looked shocked for a split second before he bared his teeth in a snarl, flipping with his built up momentum to try and kick Saitama in the face. "Checkmate," was all Saitama said, raising a fist to deliver a soft blow that would hurt the guy's pride more than it would hurt him, but unfortunately for the ninja the momentum he had built up landed his crotch painfully on Saitama's fist. "Ehh, sorry dude!" He looked between his fist and the ninja that was trembling a few feet away with a pained look on his face.

"I am an amazing ninja who contracts for everything from assassinations to bodyguard. I am Speed O' Sound Sonic! But I will postpone work for a while. Having found a worthy opponent in you, I must focus on training. What's your name?"

"Its Saitama." He looked at the other man blankly.

"Saitama! Next time we meet you're a goner! I Speed O' Sound Sonic, will destroy you with the ultimate ninja arts!" The declaration would have been more impressive if the Panic man hadn't been trembling with his knees clenched together.

"OK. Good luck." Saitama turned and walked away, hoping that he wouldn't bee too late for picking up Yuuki from school.


	8. Chapter 8

Yuuki's school in City F was thankfully close to that park that Saitama had been in, meaning he was not as late as he thought he was, especially considering the fact he ran all the way there. Citizens had noted the blur of pale blue, black and skin as he had dashed past and wondered at the colors and the breeze of his passages, but when nothing exploded they had gone back to their daily lives, unconcerned by the admittedly odd sight. "Fwahh, made it!" Saitama mumbled, slowing to a walk when the school came in sight, children just now beginning to emerge from the school at the end of the day. He was looking around for Yuuki when his field of vision was blocked by the dull shine reflecting off of a metal bat. His eyes tracked a path along the bat till he locked eyes with a teen with a scowl on his face. The first thing Saitama notices about the boy other than his bat was the string tied to his little finger. It was frayed, far more than anyone else he had ever seen, but yet was brighter than most as well. Then again it could have been the fact that he was dressed mostly in black, the red of the string and his shirt standing out against the dark color.

"Ya Ain't one of those terrorists are ya?" The teen asked, the distrust in his voice evident and breaking him from his silent study of this new character in his life. Saitama sighed at yet another accusation of him being a terrorist, he supposed it had something to do with the fact he was bald and that guy earlier with the name like a shark had been bald. "Cause if you are we're gonna have ta take this 'round back."

"Uh, no. I'm just here to pick up my daughter..." He trailed off, resigned to everyone questioning him and not wanting to cause too much of a scene that was already being caused by the teen holding him at bat point.

Said teen slowly lowered the bat, but kept his hold on it firm and threatening. "I ain't seen ya 'round here before ya new here?"

"No, I just adopted her, they said I could pick her up from school today." He turned, making sure to keep himself as non-threatening as possible so as not to get smacked with the bat that the teen held. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but a shout of "Papa Saitama!" cut him off. Both males turned just in time to see two girls running towards them. Yuuki had broken into an all-out sprint when she spied her father figure, shoving her bag into her friend's arms in order to launch herself at Saitama. The teen, who Saitama still did not know the name of, dropped the threatening air when the two little girls came into view.

"Papa Saitama what're you doing here?" Yuuki asked when she finally stopped hugging him, a little frown of confusion on her face. The still unnamed teen and Yuuki's friend looked over at the two, breaking from their conversation in favor of their curiosity.

"Ah, well see I have a bit of a surprise for you there." Saitama knelt on the ground so he was on a better level with Yuuki, pulling the folded papers from the adoption agency from his pocket. "the agency called me in this morning to sign some papers." He began, flipping through them all until he found the one that he had been after. "And the papers say that I am now legally your dad," he handed over the paper to the curious hands of the little girl. She stared up at him with wide, unbelieving eyes, the paper held loosely in her hands.

"Papa," his voice cracked even as a grin broke out over her face, unrestrained joy showing from every pore in her body. "Papa, I want you to meet my friend!" She smiled, hugging the paper to her chest and turning to where the teen and the girl that had come over with her were still standing. "Oh, and her brother too!" Yuuki bounced over to the two of them, paper still in hand and smiling brighter than the sun. "Zenko-chan, Badd-kun, this is my new papa!" She thrust the paper at the two of them. Saitama found himself smiling softly at the excitable girl as she babbled about him to her friend about him and what her adventures with him had been like so far.

"If ya hurt Lil' Yuuki in any way I won't hesitate to smash ya with my bat." Saitama looked at the teen standing next to him, the threat losing some of its fire in the soft look he had directed at the two girls. Obviously, he cared for them, the two girls seemed to be very good friends, something that Saitama was rather reluctant to take from her, but they would be living in City Z, meaning she would have to switch schools.

"Ah, I understand." Not that he really thought the teen could hurt him that much. "Yuuki, we have to get back to the apartment now, I have a feeling Genos might show up." He hated to break up the children, but really the two of them had to go. "We can give them the address though and they can visit sometimes." He assured when he noticed that both the little girls were looking a bit downcast at the announcement. It was like his words were magical or something because Yuuki immediately perked up and pulled a pad of paper and a pencil from her bag, handing them to Saitama with puppy eyes. He smiled and wrote out the address to the apartment along with his phone number and name, handing it to the teen that Yuuki had introduced as Badd. "Any time your sister wants to come and have like a playdate just give a call, I have flexible hours so I should be able to answer any time." He did not wait for a reply from the teen, walking back home with Yuuki holding his hand, and talking about framing the certificate that officially made them father and daughter.

When Saitama had gotten home with Yuuki it was to find that yes indeed Genos had shown up at the apartment and waiting at their door looking a bit like a lost puppy. Saitama felt oddly guilty for the amount of time it took to actually get back to the apartment from City F. That and he didn't really know how long Genos had been standing there. "Oh, Genos, you're here, sorry, I had to pick up Yuuki from school..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "We had to stop by the market to get some things that she didn't have already as well..." He held up a bag as if he needed to prove that they had been shopping...god this was awkward...why was it so hard to talk to the cyborg.

"Papa said we could make cookies to celebrate, maybe you can help with that Mr. Genos?" Yuuki piped up, smiling brightly at the cyborg. Genos seemed to be floored by the whole exchange, only managing to nod his head before Yuuki was pulling him by the hand through the door. "We had to buy a frame and cookie cutters and a baking sheet. Papa said that we can make cookies because I am officially his daughter now!" She babbled on, moving around the kitchen and pulling things she could reach for making the cookies. Saitama watched in amusement as Genos pulled down bowls and whisks from some of the higher cupboards when Yuuki had trouble reaching them. "We are gonna make sugar cookies!" Yuuki declared, pulling cookie stamps and an apron from the bag. She thrust them into Genos's hands and then pulled out a second apron. "You need to wear one of the aprons Mr. Genos. Papa said we need to keep the flour off of our clothes." She put her own apron on and attempted to tie a neat bow in the ribbon behind her back.

Saitama watched with an amused smile as the two people that had managed to get past his walls donned pastel colored aprons and matching scarves to cover their hair. Genos wore a pink apron that Saitama thought looked very nice with his skin. Yuuki had o. A pale blue and held in her hand a third apron in pale yellow. "Papa you get this one!" she declared with a happy smile. He smiled and took the apron, putting it on and tying the bow, completely ready to work with the two on the cookies.

"Hey Genos, wanna go take the hero exams with me on Thursday?" Saitama asked when they were half way through with baking the cookies.

The shelter in City Z was a large half-domed building, it looked like all the other shelters that had been put up in the last three years. Saitama just looked at the building and the people that were milling around outside. Most of them were wearing some admittedly weird looking get ups, but then again Saitama went around wearing a yellow jumpsuit, so he supposed he really had no reason to talk about odd costume choices, but really the amount of more than slightly out of shape hero wannabes standing around in hopeful ques was quite ridiculous. Saitama felt glad that he had dropped Yuuki off at her new school that morning even though he had considered letting her stay at home that day due to the changes that were going on in their lives, he didn't think that the little girl needed to be exposed to the assortment of men in tight spandex.

"Sensei, why are we here again?" Genos had a frown on his face as he looked out at the people that were milling about in front of the building. The cyborg had shown up at Saitama's apartment that morning before Yuuki left for school with three jelly pastries and a sheepish smile. Yuuki had smiled and bounced around at the prospect of the jelly-filled treats, inviting the cyborg in at Saitama's approval, he being in the kitchen finishing up a little bento box for the girl to take in for her lunch. "Not that I would question you in your wisdom, but you never did say why we are here Sensei?" Genos rushed out when Saitama didn't respond quite as fast, still mulling over the rather domestic scene from that morning and the warm fuzzy feeling it had given to him.

"Eh, oh, this?" He gestured to the crowd in front of them with one hand, the other one pulling the slightly crumpled registration form from his hoodie pocket. "The chairman of the agency that I adopted Yuuki from apparently knows some people in this Hero Association and what with how I saved Yuuki, as well as the whole thing with that home of decoluvan or whatever it was they all thought that I should register..." He trailed off with a shrug and the offer of the paper for his self-proclaimed disciple to examine. "I kinda need a more steady job than I have had in the past, and this seemed like it would be a good option, this way I can still spend a lot of time with Yuuki, and theoretically if she needs me I can be there for her with pretty much no trouble, and since you showed up this morning, I figured that maybe you would like to come along with me, even if you don't end up doing the test or whatever..."

Genos looked at him for a long moment, completely silent and stoic as per usual, but still Saitama felt a bit nervous at the silence. "If Sensei is doing this, then I will too." He finally declared, drawing the attentions of some of the people that were gathered for the test.

"Ah...yeah, well, come on then, I was told that I would need to go turn this in." He waved the paper around and looked around for someone who looked official. "Ah, there Genos, lets go this way." Absently he took hold of Genos's hand and pulled him along with him to where he saw a smiling worker, at least he assumed she was a worker because she seemed to be directing the participants around. "Excuse me, miss," Saitama stopped in front of the woman, still holding Genos's hand, either unaware or ignoring the cyborg that was steaming beside him. "I was told I could hand this into someone today and it would be ok?" He held out the form that he had finished filling out as well as a note that the Agoni man had attached to the form for him to hand in. "Oh and can we maybe get an extra form for my friend Genos here?"

The woman took the form and the note, scanning it over, her eyes going wide at the note and a tablet appearing from seemingly nowhere once she had read the note. Her fingers flew across the screen and Saitama could see a number of different screens popping up and disappearing, all of them seeming to have all sort of different information on them. Finally she switched the screen on the tablet off and tucked it back in towards her chest. "Follow me Mr. Saitama, we shall get your friend a form to fill out and then you can report to the main area for the physical portion of the test." She spoke with a brisk tone, her heels making a clicking noise as she led the two of them to the registration area. "Mr. Saitama you are to report to the left, Mr. Genos can report to the right, there are separate tests for those who have augmented abilities or inorganic parts." She gave them the directions for the testing areas before turning and walking away, once again typing away on her tablet and ignoring any others that tried to call for her attention.

Saitama shrugged off the odd behavior of the woman, instead turning to Genos and smiling. "Ah, looks like we will have to be separate for the physical test, but if we take the written portion at the same time we should totally sit together. Good luck in there Genos!" He patted the cyborg on the shoulder, being mindful of his strength so he wouldn't dent him. "See you on the other side!"


	9. Chapter 9

Saitama felt somehow nervous at being separated from Genos for the tests, he could hide his anxiety under his usual poker face, but he worried non the less. _What if I don't get a ranking, what if Genos realizes that I really have no idea what I am doing and leaves?_ He narrowed his eyes as the exam proctor called for a thirty second round of side steps. _I will just have to prove to them that I deserve to be here. Genos should have no problem with it._ He stopped when the proctor called time, oblivious to the looks of shock and awe on the faces of those that surrounded him. _Genos is quite skilled after all,_ he thought as he crouched down for the 1500-meter dash. _Even with that recommendation I don't really think I look all that much like a hero. Genos is cooler._ he crossed the finish line in record time, still oblivious to the people's looks, too wrapped in his own thoughts. He have it through the weight lifting and vertical jump before his eyes trailed to his string, his eyes tracking it as it wound off towards the opposite side of the large compound where Genos was going through his own testing.

"That's you done there then," the proctor in charge of his exams said when he had gotten over his shock at the physical strength that the unassuming man had shown. "Head over to the locker room to get refreshed and changed, we will have the results of the test ready in about an hour or so." Saitama just nodded and wandered in the direction of the locker rooms. They had had him take the written portion of the test before he did the physical one.

He looked around the locker room, noticing how much the other guys were sweating compared to him where he had not even broken a sweat, hardly challenged by the tests at all. He avoided looking at them, unconsciously trying to feel the invisible string that connected him to Genos, as if the action alone could reassure him that the string was not made up, that it was still there and that he was still human. Even though he knew that he could not physically feel the string that was there, the action was still soothing to him, still gave him a sense of relief as he went about unlocking the locker he had been assigned to keep his personal effects in, ignoring the bustling of the other men around him, ignoring the flashes of red that tied them to their soulmate. People filtered out of the locker rooms around him as he stood there looking blankly at his locker, still lost in thought.

The click of the door and the thump of metallic feet on the hard surface of the floor drew him from his inner musings. "Ah, Genos, you done with the tests now?" He said looking up to see the cyborg...the very nude cyborg.

"Yes, sensei," Genos turned to a locker that presumably held his own clothes, conveniently placed near Saitama's own. "The tests were easy, there is no doubt about it, sensei, we definitely passed." He turned briefly after pulling his pants on to face Saitama who was hopping around trying to pull his pants up all the way, having accidentally grabbed a pair that was a few years old and quite snug. He did not notice that Genos tracked the pants as they were pulled up over his bum.

"Eh, yeah," Saitama chuckled nervously, turning to face Genos as he pulled on his shirt. "They told me the results would be ready in an hour." He sat down on the bench in order to pull on his shoes, patting the spot next to him invitingly. "You looked like you had questions this morning when you stopped by."

Genos hesitantly sat down beside him, fingers adjusting the hem of his shirt. "Sensei..." He trailed off, seeming to gather his thoughts before he continued with them. "Sensei, forgive me if this is an impertinent question, but how did you and Yuuki-chan come to meet?" He ducked his head in a silent apology for his perceived transgression.

Saitama leaned back on the bench, wondering how best to tell the story without revealing his freakish talent in seeing the red string of fate. "Huh, well it's a bit of a long story I guess, but the short version is I saved her from a monster." Genos looked to him then with wide, questioning eyes, obviously still curious as to the actual events that lead to Saitama adopting the little girl. "The monster had taken out most of City A when I heard about it. I had wanted to do something about it, what with me being between jobs at the time and it looked like it might be an interesting fight," he was rambling he knew, but he couldn't seem to stop this train of thought, finally able to talk with someone other than the social workers about it. Finally able to talk to a _friend_ about it. "When I got to the city I saw this little girl crying out for her parents. I don't know how I knew this, but I knew that her parents wouldn't respond. I knew that I needed to help so I moved her out of the way and I told her to stay down and quiet." He was speaking quieter now, twisting the hem of his hoodie in his hands. "She was alone and I had to help, so I got involved in making sure she would go to a good home and then they brought up that we meshed well in a father/daughter sort of way I sorta ended up accidentally starting the adoption process...The thing is, I don't know if this was the right thing to do. Genos, she's so fragile and people have already come after me, what if she gets hurt? What would I do if something happens to her? I don't think I could live with the guilt of it."

He continued to worry the hem of his hoodie, the crashing realization of how fragile, how utterly _human_ little Yuuki was, hit him with as much force as one of his punches. He had been too caught up with securing her place with him to think about the what-ifs before. "Saitama Sensei," Genos's voice was soft and right there, right in front of him along with its owner. _When did he move over here?_ "You don't have to worry about that, Yuuki-chan loves you like a father, and you obviously feel she is your daughter, as short a time as you have known each other." Genos raised a hand and gently took the hoodie from his hands, holding onto them instead. Saitama looked up, giving Genos a small smile and squeezing his hand gently before standing up at the click of the door.

"Ah, Messrs Genos and Saitama, here are the results for your tests." A suit handed over two manilla envelopes to the men standing before him. "A meeting will be called for all new heroes in ten minutes, an announcement will be made so you know where to go." With that the man turned on his heal and left the two newly classified heroes alone.

"Ready?" Saitama asked, looking up from his envelope. "You go first."

Genos nodded and opened his envelope, pulling the paper it held out slowly and studying it. "I scored 100. According to this I am approved to be a Class S hero." Genos gave what for him could pass as a smile, holding out the paper for Saitama to see. "What did you get sensei?" He phrased it like a polite question, but Saitama had no doubt that the boy belived he would be a Class S hero as well.

"Oh, ah, I passed with a score of 89 and they made me a Class B Hero." He shrugged it off when Genos looked like he wanted to protest his placement. "It's fine, Genos, really." He gently patted his shoulder.

"Mr. Genos and Mr. Saitama, a meeting of successful applicants is being held in Hall 3. Please report there for a quick briefing." A friendly voice came over the PA system, drawing the two men from their conversation. Saitama shrugged and walked out of the locker room, listening closely to make sure Genos was following him.

"Were you planning on coming over today?" He asked when they were about halfway to the room. He pulled out a pack of gum and popped one of the pieces into his mouth, offering the pack up to Genos.

"No, thank you, I promised Dr. Kuseno I would be visiting with him for the week." Genos took a piece of gum and Saitama put the pack away. "Sorry, Sensei."

"Eh, it's okay, Genos," Saitama smiled softly at Genos, holding open the door for the cyborg to enter in first. "I think I might just do something with Yuuki tonight, you know a celebration thing!"

Genos tried to respond but was interrupted by a man standing at the podium at the front of the room, scowl on his face.

"Congratulations for passing!" The man sounded overly cheerful, what with the forced grin on his face and the way he gripped the podium with white knuckles. "You may have only gotten through on a fluke, but that is no excuse to slack off!" Saitama stopped paying attention to him, realizing that he didn't really have anything useful to add to what he already knew about the Hero Association. "Don't get cocky! You will be listed on the Official Hero Association website, which means everything you do will be a reflection on the Hero Association..."

Saitama took that opportunity to start blowing a bubble, wondering how big he could get it before it popped.

"Are you even listening to me?" The man shrieked right as the bubble popped on Saitama's face.

"Sensei!" Genos called out, scrambling to help Saitama pull the gum from his face.

The man behind the Podium sighed and looked like he wanted to bash his head against the wood as the two newly classified heroes struggled with the gum.


	10. Chapter 10

Getting used to living in the busier parts of the city was definitely going to be an experience for Saitama, seeing as this was the third time in as many days that found him waking up due to noise. He supposed it was all part of being a parent, and maybe eventually even a romantic partner for a certain blonde cyborg. _But then again he could just as easily realize how much of a bald old loser I am. People can be happy even if they never meet their soul mate and Genos deserves to be happy._ He groaned and rolled over onto his side, trying to bury his face in his pillow in an attempt to hide from his thoughts.

"Papa," the soft voice and softer knock broke him from his self deprecating thoughts better than burying his head into the pillow did. "Papa I had a nightmare." Saitama swiftly sat up at that, he could guess what she had dreamed about.

"Come on in b-baby, do you wanna talk about it?" He kept his voice soft, opening his arms in anticipation of the girl wanting a hug. "It's OK if you don't wanna talk." He held the sniffling girl close, stroking her hair in a way he remembered his own parents doing. "Come on, lets get you a glass of warm milk and then you can stay in here the rest of the night. I-if you want to." Saitama stood up slowly, gathering Yuuki in his arms as he went. "Um, we can bring your futon in here if you want." He murmured softly.

"No!" Yuuki clung tighter to him, burying her face in his shoulder. "I woke up and nobody was there. Why was nobody there papa?"

Saitama could swear that his heart broke at the sad cry from the little girl. Now he knew for sure what she had been dreaming. "Shh, it's alright baby, sometimes people have to go away, but that's no fault of yours. Come on then, we'll get that milk and then you can settle in with me for the night 'kay?"

Yuuki didn't respond verbally, just letting out a small sound of agreement while she nuzzled herself even closer to Saitama as they slowly made they way to the kitchen.

Genos showed up that morning after Saitama had dropped Yuuki off at school and was trying to figure out if he should go out on a patrol or not. He had read in the rules that it was not required for a Class B hero to patrol, but he did want to officially make sure that the neighborhood he lived in now was safe, besides he figured that a patrol would not be that different from some of the times that he had done minor hero work while he was still training.

"Saitama-sensei!" Genos pulled him from his thoughts when he reached the door to his building. "I had not realized you were out. Please forgive my disturbing you!" He sounded angry, but then Saitama supposed he normally sounded angry. "I wanted to request if you could spar with me Sensei!"

Saitama blinked lethargically, processing what he had just heard. "Ah, OK." He shrugged and continued on walking past his apartment, glad that he had had a breakfast of bananas with Yuuki on their way to her school. "There's a place about half a mile from the abandoned sector that we can use." He gestured Genos to come walk beside him.

"Yes, Sensei!" Genos sounded almost happy at that, perhaps Saitama could do this whole soulmates thing sorta right after all.

Saitama had led them to a small canyon far beyond the reaches of any people or wild life, to insure the lack of casualties from what the destructive forces they would surely unleash. He checked his watch, glad that he had put on his hero suit in the event that he'd end up doing some hero work today, it would be much easier to fight in the suit than in his street clothes in any case.

"Sensei, according the Hero Association website you are ranked at the bottom of Class B and I am ranked at the bottom of Class S. We are still listed as Saitama and Genos respectively, they will give us Hero names when we gain more recognition." Genos had pulled out a sleek black phone almost as soon as the two of them had reached the little canyon. "Thank you for accepting my request to sparring session, Sensei, although I believe we should go over some rules before we begin." Genos closed the phone with an audible snap, slipping the device back into his pocket. "I want you to take this seriously, I will not be holding back. Fight me until I can no longer move." He said with a fierce determination, narrowed eyes looking straight into Saitama's.

Genos got down into a fighting stance, his arms and chest lighting up with an orange glow. Saitama took a moment to appreciate the interesting sight the cyborg made before he was under fire, quite literally. Genos seemed to rocket himself forwards using some sort of blaster on his shoulders to gain momentum. Comparative to Saitama's own abilities the cyborg was still lacking in the speed department. But then again, Saitama mused, no one has been able to come even remotely at par to him, he's just gotten _too_ strong. Without an ounce of surprise he smoothly ducked the kick that Genos had aiming at his head, bowing backwards at the waist in an acrobatic display of flexibility, the blow easily avoided, he used the momentum of the failed attack to leap up and away as the teen tried to land kick.

Saitama felt his eyes widen fractionally when the blow landed where he had been, cracks and fissures, spider webbing out from where the attack had landed. Genos let out a small tsk of frustration and immediately raised his arm, panels lifting up from spots near his wrists, revealing what seemed to be small tubes. He released a barrage of fire that Saitama had to dodge in mid air.

"That was close," He muttered when he landed lightly on his feet just to the side of the line of fire. "I almost got my clothes burnt...again..." He had his back turned to Genos so the only warning he had to the fact the cyborg was on the move again was the intense whirr of machinery. He could swear that he _tasted_ the electrical crackle that seemed to permeate the air. He moved faster then than he had before when dealing with Genos. He moved fast enough that he could watch some of the points where Genos chased his after image. A cry of "Machine Gun Blows" had him moving across the open expanse of the canyon floor, he figured it would not be that much longer until Genos figured out that none of his blows had actually landed. Saitama had to slow somewhat as some of the falling rocks finally caught up to him, forcing him to either avoid them or punch them and give himself away earlier that he wanted to.

He could tell when Genos caught on as the whirr of his machinery slowed down, power probably being diverted into scanning the area for Saitama. A smile tugged up the corner of his mouth when Genos landed in front of him, guns quite literally blazing. More pannels on his arms opened than the ones that he had used previously. The internal workings glowing a bright, angry orange. "Incinerate!" Saitama watched as the fireball approached him at high speeds, scorching the ground in its wake.

 _Oh look, he managed to melt that rock there a bit, hmm, I wonder if we could sell it as modern art?_ He almost smiled to himself again as he leapt up into the air, moving around so he could stand behind Genos. He watched as the ground heated up some more and the rock melted more, looking like it had a very sad face. He hated to interrupt the concentration that his disciple held, but he really didn't want Genos to burn out. "Behind," he said, putting a hand on Genos's shoulder. "I win." The barest upturn of his lips probably betrayed that he had not taken the challenge quite as seriously as he could have. He had to leap back once more to avoid a hard metal fist.

"Saitama-sensei," Genos turned to face him through a cloud of dissipating steam and smoke from the burnt rocks. "Have you forgotten the rules of this match? Evade any blows that are possible to evade. Fight without fooling around. Do not worry about me. And keep fighting until I am immobilized." He had straightened up and was fully facing Satama now. "That is all." His arms crossed and picked up that same glow that indicated his systems entering battle mode.

Saitama decided to indulge the boy, he entered a more serious frame of mind and dodged the few blows Genos managed to get out after his little speech. His fist drew back, he could practically feel the fear that spiked from Genos when the cyborg registered the danger he was presented with in the form of a red gloved fist. He pulled up just shy of actually hitting Genos, the abrupt stop of his fist did not slow the displaced air that followed in its wake. He straightened up as the wind pushed past the two of them, pushing back Genos's hair and making his cape billow with the breeze he had generated.

"Come on then," he lightly flicks the frozen cyborg's forehead, turning in the direction of town. "It took us a while to get here, by the time we get back it will be time to pick Yuuki up from school, she wanted to tell you congratulations for becoming a hero. Why don't we all go out for udon to celebrate!"

Saitama could tell that Genos was in awe at his display of power from the way he sounded breathless when he agreed. He wondered for a brief moment what damage he had caused to the canyon to cause that tone, but dismissed it, instead he tried to figure out where would be the best place for the three of them to eat.


	11. Chapter 11

Saitama stared in shock at the two people that stood in his doorway. Genos stood there, which was not wholly unexpected, but he had on a massive backpack, which was a bit of an odd addition. The man next to him looked vaguely familiar to Saitama, perhaps he knew him from somewhere. Yuuki seemed to know him though, if her star struck appearance was anything to go by.

"Uhh...hi, Genos," Saitama sat up from where he had been lounging back and reading a manga. "Umm...hi...uhhh..." He trailed off, not sure of the name of the other man.

"Mumen Rider," The stranger introduced himself with a friendly smile. "Sorry, I noticed him outside early this morning and remembered that he and you seemed to get along, he is over here quite a lot after all and I didn't want to leave him standing out by the gate by himself. I guess I should have made sure it was alright with you before I let him in." He rubbed the back of his head in a way that seemed utterly familiar to Saitama. He frowned a bit trying to recall where he had seen the man before.

"That's alright, why don't you both come in so we don't have to have this conversation in the doorway?" Saitama found himself saying, even though he still was not sure what was going on. Yuuki still looked a bit star struck as she closed the door and ran to sit next to Saitama. "I'm sorry, but do I know you from somewhere?" He asked Mumen once the door was closed and everyone had taken a seat. Genos made himself quite at home, his pack sitting in one corner and drinks in hand for everyone, and Saitama supposed that Genos had been over enough times to know his way around.

"Oh, umm, I'm a hero?" It came out as more of a question than anything.

"No, not that, I actually didn't pay much attention to the heroes until recently." Saitama frowned as he stared at the man across the table from him, racking his brain for how he knew the other man. "Isamu!" He suddenly shouted, making the man jump. "Isamu Matsuno!" He pointed his finger at him in victory, a broad smile on his face at remembering the name. "We went to high school together!" Realization dawned on the other man's face, his own smile lighting up his face.

"Ah, Saitama-kun right?" He smiled again at the nod from Saitama. "You look different, I didn't know you had a kid. Er, well, I suppose I wouldn't have known that. What are you doing with your life now then?" He babbled.

Yuuki perked up and cut in before Saitama or Genos could talk. "Papa is a hero!" She declared with a wide smile. "So is Mr. Genos!"

"Congratulations to you both!" A warm smile and a handshake were offered to the two other adults in the room. "Well it was a pleasure to see you again Saitama-kun, but I have to do my patrols now. I live just down the hall, don't hesitate to knock if you need anything!" And with a wave he was out the door, leaving the apartment in silence behind him.

Silence that of course had to be broken by Yuuki. "Mr. Genos why do you have such a big bag, are you going on a trip?"

Saitama stared blankly at the scene before him. Genos had moved in and made himself quite at home, even smacking down a fat wad of cash that was probably more than enough to cover Saitama's rent for the next year. Now Genos was standing in the kitchen with the pale pink apron tied around his waist and a bandana covering his hair. Yuuki had donned a similar look, and wielded a ladle under the careful eye of the cyborg.

"Ok, and now you add the tofu to the broth," Saitama heard through his shock at the simple domestic scene. He wondered how this had happened, as a few short months ago he was on his own and now not only did his soul mate live with him, but he had a daughter. A child that depended on him and he supposed if things went his way on, Genos would too. He sat down in shock, his situation truly donning on him now. He had the beginnings of a family.

"Class B heroes don't have to do patrols you know." Isamu said to Saitama about two days later, walking his bike alongside Saitama. The two of them were walking around one of the more populated shopping districts of City Z after meeting up quite by accident when they were making their rounds.

"I know, but Genos took Yuuki out to a sale on clothing, and I got bored." Saitama shrugged, glancing at the other man from the corner of his eye. "Might as well set a good example for the two of them since I have this job and all."

He could tell that Isamu was smiling at him, though he did not turn to look. "That's so sweet Saitama-san." He could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke, not that a smile was far out of the range of 'normal' for the other man, he did tend to smile quite a lot after all.

Saitama was about to respond when a glint of light off of metal caught his attention. He raised his hand and caught the knife about a foot away from his face. Both he and Isamu looked around for the source of it in confusion. Finally Saitama caught sight of a slightly familiar looking man. "Oh, it's Panic, right?" He asked, flipping the knife around and handing it to Isamu by the hilt.

"It's Speed O' Sound Sonic!" The other man declared, an ugly looking scowl on his face as he did so. "Saitama." Said man could see the tension in the other man's body at the declaration of his name. "Today, I'm going to kill you."

He probably would have gone on to declare more, but Saitama clearly was not paying any attention to him, instead turning his attention to the man with the bike beside him. "Isamu, I think we might have to move our lunch plans to another day." Sonic looked more and more murderous as the time went on with the bald man ignoring him.

"Do you really think you can ignore me?" Saitama turned his attention back at the soft sound of a blade being unsheathed, he once more raised his hand towards the glint of light on metal, catching the blade in his hand, his grip tight enough that the blade shattered. Shards fell from his fist as he loosend his grip on the now useless blade.

A glance around him revealed that not only did Isamu look both shocked and awed but they had started to gather a crowd, some who had their phones out, no doubt ready to record or snap pictures. He wanted to sigh at the ridiculousness of it all, really he had not even expected much to come of his patrol, maybe help out some people that needed it but this was almost too much. Didn't this Sanic guy know that swinging swords around in crowded areas was a bad idea and he could easily hurt one of the people surrounding them. Three more glints of light on metal caught his attention, this time though he noted they were headed just to the left of where he stood, right where Isamu was standing with his bike. Without a second thought he sidestepped and batted them down, glad he did when they exploded at his feet, leaving a small crater in the floor.

"Hey, Isamu, why don't you make sure people stay well out of the way?" He turned his head slightly to the shocked man, who nodded his head, wheeling his bike off to the side and asking the crowds to step back some. Saitama could swear he heard someone in the crowd gasp and a camera shutter snap but he ignored those in favor of facing off against Sonic.

"If you refuse to fight me I will just have to make you fight me." Sonic grinned that happy child like grin from their first encounter. He drew three more weapons from his person and threw them out towards Saitama. He readied himself for a blow that never came. The shuriken curved out, hitting some of the buildings that surrounded them, raining debris over the surrounding people.

"Hey, stop that." He sounded lame, even to himself. People were panicking in the background, and he could hear Isamu and someone else shouting instructions to the crowd, telling them to get away. Sonic just laughed, throwing more of his exploding shuriken around, creating more and more panic as he did so. He glanced around keeping track of where Sonic was and trying to figure out the best way to take him down while minimizing the damage. He watched as Sonic came closer to him, calmly Saitama raised his hand and smacked the trouble maker on the top of the head. The other man fell face first to the ground like a ton of bricks, smacking with a sound that made Saitama wince in sympathy. "I told you to stop that." He sighed out, looking down at the prone man before him.

"That was great Saitama-san!" Isamu's voice broke him from his silent assessment of the situation. The other man stood with a group of citizens, a wide smile on his face and flashing him a thumbs up. Saitama smiled back, wondering why they were all just standing there staring at him.


	12. Chapter 12

Saitama sat lounging back in the living room of his apartment, his weight resting back on his elbows and his gaze fixed on the TV. Genos was moving about in the kitchen, the soft clatter of pots and pans alerting Saitama to the fact that Genos was working on making something. Yuuki was splitting her time between helping Genos in the kitchen and running back to where her backpack lay next to Saitama, shoving various items inside of it in order to be prepared for the day trip Saitama was taking her on over to Badd and Zenko's house in City F. Saitama would occasionally remove something that she had put in and place it to the side, citing to her 'no I do not think you will need your toothbrush, we won't be there that long' and 'no Yuuki you probably don't need to bring an entire pineapple, where did you even get that?'

Finally, he sighed and sat up from his relaxed position, moving to stand fully on his feet and switching the TV off. Stretching his arms above his head he moved from side to side, cracking his back with a satisfying pop. "You ready to go now Yuuki?" He asked, turning around to see Genos ducking back into the kitchen and Yuuki holding a baggie of dried fruit and nuts in her hand. Odd, Saitama found himself thinking, I could have sworn that Genos looked a bit red, but I don't think Cyborgs can blush...can they? He shook himself out of that train of thought, picking up Yuuki's bag with one hand, the other stretched out to the happily smiling girl. "Call if anything comes up alright Genos?" Saitama called towards the kitchen, listening closely for the affirmative noise from Genos before he continued on his way out of the apartment. "Shall we run there Yuuki?" Saitama asked, looking down at the little girl with a soft smile on his face.

Yuuki thought about it for a second before she lifted up her arms towards Saitama. "Run!" She giggled a bit when he lifted her up and onto his shoulders, making sure he had her secured before taking off at an easy pace. Running faster than a normal person would usually, but still much slower than he could go.

Saitama stood in the kitchen of Badd and Zenko's home, a cup of tea in hand and a plate of cookies on the counter before him. He and Yuuki had arrived at her friend's house in record time, both flushed and giggling, Yuuki because of the run and Saitama because the laughter of the child was so infectious. Saitama let Yuuki down from his shoulders as they approached the house. She ran ahead of him to knock on the door, her grin widening when Zenko answered the door, both girls running into the house giggling as Badd came up to the door.

"Come on in then," the gruff teen said, stepping off to the side, gesturing slightly towards the hallway that Yuuki and Zenko had disappeared down. "Ma will wanna talk ta' ya'."

"Ah, right then," Saitama felt like he should salute as he walked past the teen and into the house. "Lead the way then." Saitama looked around the house as he was led through towards the sound of clanking pots and pans.

"Badd is that you?" A woman's voice called out from what Saitama assumed was the kitchen. "Was that Yuuki I just heard? Did you invite her guardian in?"

Badd sighed much to Saitama's amusement as he could only assume the voice of the woman belonged to Badd and Zenko's mother. "Yes, Ma I got him right here with me." Badd said, leading Saitama into the kitchen where a rather short, friendly looking woman bustled about tending to quite a few pots and pans on the stove.

"Ah!" She turned her attention from the stove towards her house guest. "Welcome! I'm Aina, it's a pleasure to meet you!" She wiped her hands off on a towel, holding one out to Saitama when it was cleared of whatever she had thought was there.

"Saitama," he introduced himself a bit hesitantly, accepting the hand that was offered to him, pleasantly surprised by the strength of the woman that he was faced with. "It's, ah, it's a pleasure to meet you as well?" It came out more like a question than a statement, but, thankfully Aina did not seem to take offense to it, instead she opted to smile and gesture towards the kitchen island where Saitama could sit on a bar stool style seat.

"Please, sit down, would you like some tea? Juice?" She offered, puttering around the kitchen as she spoke. "I have some milk too." She looked up from her perusal of the fridge to look back at the overwhelmed man.

Saitama for his part was trying to keep up with the woman's chatter. "Tea is fine." He finally managed to process what she had said to him. "That is if it is not too much trouble." Aina just smiled at him as she went about making the tea.

"Now," She said as she set the tea down in front of him. "I would love to have a little chat with you if you don't mind." Saitama just blinked and nodded his head, not knowing what else to say.

Aina had thoroughly grilled Saitama in his treatment of Yuuki and whether or not he thought she was happy living with him before she let him go and promised to have the girl home by eight that night. Saitama had smiled slightly before he left, wondering what Genos had gotten up to in the hour or so he had been talking with the woman. He had to admit to himself that he was a little bit excited to hang out with Genos, just the two of them. He wanted to get to know the other man better, he wanted to spend a bit more time with the person who was connected to him by fate. His pace picked up just a bit as he thought of spending time with Genos, making it back to their apartment in record time.

"Oh, sensei, you're home," Genos greeted him at the door, shoes on and phone in hand. "The Hero Association has asked me to come into the branch office. I should not be long in dealing with whatever it is they have called me for." He slipped his phone into his pocket and slipped past Saitama.

Saitama felt his heart sink a little bit, feeling like he probably would not be having much interaction with Genos today. "Ah, OK." He said, hiding his disappointment at the departure of the cyborg, stepping into the apartment. "Have fun," he called out after the retreating figure receiving a wave of the hand in reply.

He let out a sigh and leaned back against the door for a moment after he closed it, shaking himself from his thoughts and walking into the kitchen to see what they had as snacks on hand.

Ten minutes later he had settled himself down in front of the TV with a box of crackers and a juice box to watch an anime when he got an incoming call on the cheap cell phone he had gotten for himself. He flipped it open without bothering to look at the contact displayed. "Hello?" He answered the phone perhaps a bit listlessly, but then, to most that was his standard persona.

"Saitama?" Badd's voice came through the speaker sounding a bit concerned.

"Yeah?" He was suddenly more alert, not liking the sound of the younger hero's voice.

"The Hero Association just called, there is a large meteor headed towards City Z, they are about to send out a call to evacuate, ma said I should call to let you know so you can make sure you stay safe for Yuuki."

Oh, that could cause a problem... He found himself thinking, blinking languidly until something clicked in his mind. "OK, keep Yuuki occupied, if she doesn't know about the situation already try and keep her away from any word of it. Give me an hour or two and I will be over there to see her and talk a bit more with your mom." Standing from his spot and closing the phone before Badd could reply. Tossing the device in the general direction of the table he headed towards his bedroom. He would need to wear his hero suit for this.

Warning sirens blared in his ears as he sprinted towards where he could see a mass of furious flame blowing out at the incoming meteor from one of the rooftops in the city. He increased his pace as panic settled in on him. _**Shit**_ _, Genos, please be alive still_. He found himself worrying about the cyborg, pushing himself just that much faster towards the structure, landing lightly on the top of the building as Genos ran out of firepower and fell to his knees. Saitama glanced at an old man that stood on the same roof as Genos, wondering if he was a Hero as well, not that that really mattered right now if he couldn't stop the meteor before it hit the ground. "Hey gramps," he said, walking forward from where he had landed. "Take care of Genos for me." He pointed at his soul mate, catching a sudden glimpse of the eternal string that tied them together an unknown emotion took hold of him, he couldn't allow any harm to befall his _family_. Saitama looked up at the meteor with fierce determination, gauging how hard he should punch the thing in an effort to minimize the backlash.

"Who are you?" He glanced at the old man, head tilted towards him to let him know he had his attention, however briefly that was for.

"I'm just a guy who's a hero. You should probably evacuate." He turned his head back around to concentrate on his task, moving one foot back slightly and crouching. The muscles in his calves and thighs tensing in preparation for his jump. He held his arms at his sides as he crouched lower before springing upwards, allowing himself to cut through the air towards his target. He drew his arm up, fist clenching and knee moving upwards as he mustered himself to use as much force as he dared, growling out at the meteor as he connected with it fist first. His momentum carried him through the giant rock the friction he caused seeming to create sparks of electricity that moved along the faults and fissures as they formed, moving outward with the force. He glanced back just once to see that there were still some large pieces that would fall, but not nearly enough to cause the mass of damage that they were calculating beforehand. _I hope that old man got Genos out of there._

Saitama landed lightly on the road, standing straight as a piece of the meteor crashed just a few blocks away from him. "Ahh, I should go find Genos and that Grandfather." His body visibly vibrated with anxious nerves as he looked down at his left hand, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw his string unbroken and trailing off somewhere behind him, he turned in that direction and started walking. Tension leaving his body with every step that brought him closer to Genos.

In the aftermath of the meteor, Saitama and Genos did not get much opportunity to see each other as much, the two of them having been called in on separate occasions by the Hero Association to debrief on what had happened. When they did see each other it was at the apartment and, by that time, one or both of them were exhausted by the events of the past few days. Yuuki, of course worried over them more than she ought to but Saitama supposed she would worry over her family in dangerous situations like meteors falling to earth and threatening their lives.

Saitama sighed, cutting those thoughts from his mind before they could root too deeply and cause more harm and self-doubt than he already had where it concerned the raising of his child. He simply could not afford those thoughts to take hold right now, he had promised Yuuki that he would take her with him on his bargain hunts today. Genos tagging along with them at Yuuki's insistence, the girl having stated that she did not want either of them to get lost had grabbed a hold of one hand from each of them.

"Papa, do we have coupons for juice?" Yuuki turned hopeful eyes up towards him when they reached the grocery store.

"We'll see what kinds of deals we can get on juice today, ok?" Saitama replied after a moment to look through the coupons he had clipped for this particular excursion. He threw a desperate look at Genos, hoping that the cyborg would help him out with the juice issue since he had not clipped a coupon for it.

"Yuuki-chan I am sure that we will be able to find some juice on sale," he stopped to look down at the little girl, causing the other two to stop as well since Yuuki refused to let go of either of their hands. "In fact," here Genos leaned down to whisper conspiratorially to Yuuki, "I think we should try to find something that Sensei would like while we are in the store and surprise him with it." Saitama pretended like he had not heard that or the rather enthusiastic "Yeah!" from the little girl as the small almost family made their way into the grocery store.

Saitama could hear the mutters of the people as soon as he walked into the building. He could see as some glared and others gave small smiles before hurrying off to do whatever it was they had needed to do at the grocery store. For the most part he ignored them, used to the stares that others gave him because of his bald head. So long as they did not bother Genos or Yuuki then Saitama could deal with them.

"Sensei!" Genos' voice broke him from his contemplation of a pack of discount noodles, drawing his attention to him. "I will take Miss Yuuki to choose an appropriate juice and find the best deal on milk and eggs." Saitama just nodded, adding a pack of noodles to his basket. He watched as Genos took Yuuki by the hand towards the section of the store that held the juice before turning towards the fresh produce to see what kind of sales he could get on any of them.

The mutters of the people got louder when Genos and Yuuki were out of sight. Saitama continued to ignore them until two overly buff men in tank tops stopped in front of him, blocking his path. He tilted his head to the side slightly, blank expression still in place despite the fact that the men were leering down at him. "You're the one that caused all this damage to City Z aren't you?" One of the men started out, his voice carrying around the store, drawing attention to the dry goods aisle they were standing in. People in the aisle stopped to look at the scene. The mutters grew in volume which seemed to amuse the man who had spoken first, the one with the tank top that had a stripped pattern.

"Uh, do I know you?" He asked, trying to figure out who the two strangers were.

The one in the black tank top looked offended that Saitama did not recognize them.

"I'm Tank Top Black Hole, Class B Hero extraordinaire," he smirked at Saitama, his voice raising in volume the more people gathered around the two of them. "And you're the Class B fraud!" Saitama raised a brow at that trying to figure out what the guy meant by that. "You don't even care about the people who's homes you destroyed after the meteor? Here you are leisurely shopping for food that rightfully belongs to the people who's homes you have devastated!"

Saitama noticed Genos and Yuuki approaching from behind the two tank top heroes. Genos had a scowl on his face and Yuuki looked somewhat scared by the situation that Saitama was faced with. Flicking his gaze back to the two men before him Saitama subtly gestured for Genos to stay back, hoping that the teen would do so and keep Yuuki out of it at the same time. Genos seemed to get the message of staying back as he grabbed Yuuki's hand in his own to gently pull her to a stop, his face set in a stony mask, though he did not remove himself or Yuuki from the aisle.

"You don't care about the people who's lives you have ruined, you don't care about the destruction that you have caused," the guy was really showboating it all, arms spread wide and body turned to the audience he had gathered. "You ride on the coattails of the Class S heroes you worked with. You do not deserve the credit you get, you _fraud!_ " He brought his hand around in a dramatic sweep to point right Saitama's face. "You should quit and stop getting in the way of real heroes!" The man grinned when the crowd started to murmur among themselves and Saitama had to repress a sigh at the idiot that seemed to have taken a dislike to him for some inconceivable reason.

"I would love to stay and chat with you some more," he turned towards the two men, completely deadpan. "But I have to finish shopping so I can take my now thoroughly upset daughter home, to our apartment, here in this city which I apparently do not care about." He walked past them a little, just enough to again let Genos subtly know that they were done here. Genos let go of Yuuki, allowing the girl to fling herself into Saitama's arms, burrowing her head in his shoulder with a soft sob of "Papa." He stood up from where he had bent down awkwardly to accept the affection of the little girl, one arm curling around her to keep her secure since she refused to let him go, walking with his head held high past the group of people, some glared at him, while others turned their heated glares on the two meatheads that had been yelling at him, the mutters now mixed between him being a fraud and him being a good father who was only trying his best to do right by his family.

Once they got far enough from the dry goods aisle Genos took the basket from him adding the juice and eggs that he and Yuuki had gone to grab, allowing Saitama to shift his grip on the girl so she would be more comfortable. "Let's go home Genos." He said softly heading towards the checkout lines.

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